Make You Feel My Love, Book II
by AsgardianHobbit98
Summary: [Steve/OC] With SHIELD's corruption slowly being revealed, Maria slowly finds out new things about her past, both horrible and shocking ones. Steve struggles to grasp the fact that Hydra is back while Maria struggles to keep their relationship working.
1. Chapter 1, Agent Maria Dalton

_Rewritten 2018_

 **Welcome to the second part of the series that I've decided to call; Make You Feel My Love. It's a Steve/OC story that is following the movies, beginning with the first Avengers movie and then moving on with TWS, AOU and so on! I advice you to read the first story before reading this one though since there might be some things that you won't understand if you read this first. You'll find the first one on my profile!**

 **For all of you that come from my first story: welcome! In this story, which will follow The Winter Soldier in future chapters, you'll learn a little more about Maria and her past... actually, you'll learn quite a lot about her past. Just like Steve, Maria will meet someone from her past which will make life a little difficult for her. I hope you all enjoy it! I'll stop talking now and let you read instead... :P**

 **Remember, I'm not from an English speaking country and there might be some odd grammatical faults! If that is the case, please excuse those; ignore them or tell me what I've done wrong. I want to become better at English so I appreciate if you tell me what I did wrong.**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 1~  
Agent Maria Dalton  
**

"Hands behind your head! Get down on your knees, now!"

The thugs cuffed their hands behind their backs before beginning to lead them the rest of the way down the staircase. They found out that they had been almost halfway down, which relieved the agents as this meant that Martin still had a chance to do his thing.

Bags were thrust over their heads the moment they didn't have to watch their steps anymore. They were fabric bags and air could seep through easily, so they weren't meant to suffocate either of them. Instead, they were meant to keep something hidden from them. Rough hands grabbed Maria's arms, pushing her forwards into a walk. The floor she walked on was uneven though the rough hands held her on her feet whenever she tripped.

When she was forced to a stop, Maria felt hands start to search her for weapons. Of course, they found the daggers strapped to her leg and they immediately took them from her before pushing her down on her knees. The men let go of her and moved away from her, making it seem as though she was completely alone in the darkness.

She frantically tried to see something through the fabric of the bad, though it was impossible. Her breaths caused the fabric to moisten up against her nose and mouth, making her even more uncomfortable than she already was. Suddenly, voices could be heard. The thugs that had grabbed them were all talking in Russian about her and her fellow agents – since she had worked with Russians most of her teenage life, she knew the language a little bit by now.

The squeaking of door hinges was heard behind her and suddenly, all the voices died down. Maria knew who it was that had entered the room. The tense atmosphere around her made it all very clear and it reminded her of her time as one of those thugs. The moment _he_ entered the room, one was supposed to be quiet unless he asked you something.

The fact that he was once again in the same room as her awoke emotions in herself that almost scared her. Most of these emotions, she recognized as anger and hatred. Though those were emotions that she had promised herself to never feel again, and so she tried to keep her calm. Anger and hatred had caused her pain in her life that she never wanted to experience again, someone almost always getting hurt whenever she let herself feel those feelings.

"I suppose you expected me to host a party without being prepared for the attention it would give me, aye?" said a familiar voice with a thick Russian accent that turned each "s" into a "z", and oddly enough, this voice still seemed to enlighten a fire inside of Maria. That very fire was what made her regret that she had disobeyed Fury's plan. "Let's see if I've got this right… Agent Clint Barton otherwise known as Hawkeye from the _Avengers_."

"Go to hell," Clint's voice said from Maria's right before the sound of a fist colliding with a jaw was heard accompanied with a grunt from Clint.

"Tut, tut," said Artur. "That's not very nice to say to the man holding a knife to your friend's throat."

Maria's heartbeat started to beat faster. If she couldn't feel the knife to her throat, Charles was the friend Artur was talking about since he was the only other person that had come with her and Barton.

"And… Agent Charles Miller," continued Artur. "How's the family – ah! Don't even try it…"

Her nostrils flared when she felt someone grip the bag that was around her head, the light hitting her eyes painfully as though someone had just slapped her. As she looked down at the darker floor - seeing how moist it was as they were basically down in the sewers at the moment - someone immediately grabbed her chin, a cool piece of metal pressing against her throat. Artur's grip on her chin forced her to look up at him, her slightly panicked eyes narrowing as she saw his face again.

She couldn't help but smirk slightly when she saw the long scar that was on his cheek; a scar she had put on him the day she left. Though he had given her a scar as well.

"Well, well… Agent Maria Dalton," said Artur, a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he sat there, crouched in front of her with a knife held against her throat, something she knew he had wanted to do since the day she left him.

He was now in his early forties, if Maria wasn't mistaken, though during the past four years that she had been away from him, he had barely aged at all. The only thing that was different was his left eye that seemed to have not approved of the cut she had provided his left cheek with. Only under that eye were there dark bags.

"Or is it agent? Maybe it's Avenger now, hm?" asked Artur, his smirk fading as his grip tightened. "You haven't aged a day…"

"You have," lied Maria through gritted teeth.

Artur stared at her for a while, seeming to contemplate how to react to her comment though choosing to ignore it in the end.

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find the man that ordered for a bullet to go through her skull," replied Clint.

When Artur finally let go of Maria and shifted over to Clint, she could turn her head to look at her fellow agents. While Clint stared at Artur monotonously, Charles was staring at the ground with a strange look on his face. She could read sadness… remorse…

All around them, guards were placed with guns in their hands, pointed towards them. Both female and male though they were all clad various sort of masks. Some were rabbits, some were monkeys and some were clowns. Maria remembered this from her days under Artur's command; you didn't show your face to the people you were about to kill.

"And how did you figure out that it was me?" asked Artur quietly.

Silence filled the room after his question and his face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Fine," scoffed Artur.

 _"Team two will be there in ten… nine…"_

All three agents heard the voice through their earpiece.

"I suppose you can't trust people to do your dirty work anymore," sighed Artur as he placed his knife back in his belt before taking out a gun. "The only thing that'll kill you is a bullet that stays in the brain or that goes through the heart…" he whispered, causing Maria to look up at him with wide and confused eyes as he pointed his gun at her. "See this gun? Especially made by a special man. As soon as it enters your pretty little head, it'll clutch itself onto whatever tissue it finds and _stay there_. Ending you forever."

He removed the safety of the gun with a click though didn't shoot. One of his men placed a mask over Artur's face, a mask that Maria remembered well. It was shaped like a sort of ghoul and only Artur himself wore such a mask.

 _"Maria, hold on. They're here."_

"Go on then," said Maria, narrowing her eyes as she saw that he was still not shooting her.

When the door was suddenly thrust open, all guards in the room pointed their guns at the people entering before shooting as much as they could. However, the bullets ricocheted back to them, hitting something metal that most certainly guided the bullets back to the people that were shooting. One after one, they fell down to the floor, groaning from the bullet either hitting them in the leg or somewhere else, though never killing them. When one of the bullets hit Artur in the leg, he fell down in front of the three agents, cursing loudly in Russian before staying there.

Multiple SHIELD agents started the process of arresting the guards while Natasha and Steve came into view of the three agents. Steve kicked the gun away from Artur's hand before looking down at him with serious eyes.

"Don't threaten her ever again," said Steve in a husky, low voice before Natasha kicked Artur in the head, causing him to fall into unconsciousness.

 **120 hours earlier**

"Behind you!" called Maria causing Clint to duck in order for her to throw one of her daggers at the man raising a gun at her fellow agent.

"Thanks," said Clint before aiming an arrow at the last man that was standing up in the lodgment where they were currently standing. As he let the arrow go, it attached itself to the thug's neck, which caused a sleeping draught to enter his system, making him fall to the floor immediately.

A strange group of terrorists which Clint and Maria never got the actual name of had managed to hack into one of the computers that SHIELD owned. Luckily, they had never managed to get into the main database; which was close to impossible. Fury wanted her and Barton to find the data they had gotten their hands on and bring it back to the headquarters. Now, they were standing in an old abandoned warehouse with unconscious bodies all around them. The original plan had been to go in quietly though that hadn't worked out for them.

"You know," started Maria, panting slightly as she cleaned her sword of some blood by wiping it over one of the unconscious men's shirts, "this is all your fault."

Clint glanced back at her as he walked towards the laptop the men had been trying to defend. He scoffed, shaking his head as he crouched down in front of it.

"How is it _my_ fault?" asked Clint before stretching out his hand to her. "USB."

Maria walked over to him, taking out a small, black USB from her pocket and placing it in the palm of his hand before she sheathed her sword.

"Well," began Maria as she watched Clint download all the files that existed on the laptop onto the USB. He then proceeded to replace those files with a virus; a deadly one that would make the thugs' whole system inoperable. "This is my first mission as an agent. You're here to stop me from doing stupid things."

"Stupid things as pressing a big red button, you mean?" asked Clint, handing the USB to Maria as he stood up again. "Yes, 'cause _that_ is what Fury meant with stupid things."

"Well, it _is_ stupid," said Maria as Clint brushed past her.

"It is," sighed Clint. "But it's also obvious that you don't press a big red button when trying to sneak into a place filled with people who can kill you."

Maria quickly followed Clint as he started to walk towards the door.

"Shouldn't we exit the same way we entered?" asked Maria quietly, not daring to press any further on the matter of her stupidity during her first mission as an agent.

"Why? Everyone already knows we're here," scolded Clint, making Maria look down at the floor.

As Clint opened the doors and turned around, he sighed as he looked at her. Although she had a domino mask over her eyes, shielding her true identity from the thugs they came across, he could still see her worry for what was going to happen once they got back to SHIELD headquarters. After all, it was a stupid mistake she had done and although she had believed that the button was going to drop something over the terrorists' heads, it had still been a stupid move.

"Look," said Clint, hindering her from walking outside by placing a hand on her shoulder. "The reason Fury forced me to continue to follow your moves was not because he didn't believe in you. Yes, you made a stupid mistake here. And yes, you are going to get your butt kicked by Fury. But he still trusts you. You're an Avenger. You helped save New York from **aliens.** "

"I know," said Maria quietly.

Deep down, she was still scared that the reason why Clint had to come with her still even after she had been made an official agent of SHIELD was because the last time she dealt with criminals on her own, she stayed with those criminals and did horrible things. She was scared that because of her past, Fury wasn't going to trust her nor would any of the other SHIELD agents.

"It's just that… with my past-"

"No," interrupted Clint, raising a hand. "It's not because of your past. Look, I can't say the actual reason, but I do know that Fury trusts you. There are more people working for SHIELD that have something in their past they can never get rid of. And you know what? Fury would trust them with their lives just as he would with you."

"Then what other reason is there?" asked Maria, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"It's just…" began Clint, removing his hand from her shoulder before he ruffled her hair slightly. "You're too young to let out on your own."

He chuckled as he walked away, seeing the mess he'd made of her hair to which she pouted. "Steve's only two years older than me!"

"And he was a captain before you were even born! Literally."


	2. Chapter 2, This Is Home

_Rewritten 2018_

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 2~  
This Is Home  
**

Before Maria had left for her very first mission as an agent, she had gotten a phone call from Steve, telling her the address of his new apartment in Washington. As he worked for SHIELD and he was _Captain America_ , he had to live in Washington, far away from the place where he actually wanted to live – Brooklyn – since the headquarters of SHIELD needed Steve to be close-by. As long as Steve couldn't pay for an apartment of his own, that was what he had to live with. Maria pitied him that he could not do what he wanted.

He had told her that he had at least a week off from missions and Maria couldn't be happier about the fact that he wanted her to come and visit him. After all, their relationship was most certainly a romantic one even if they didn't see each other that often. Since she now was an official agent of SHIELD, she was hoping to be able to qualify for a place in his team so that they would have breaks as well as missions together, never having to call and hope for the best anymore. Though she would have to stop making silly mistakes if she wanted part of _Captain America_ team.

Now, after her mission, she was dropped off by Clint outside of the tenement where Steve lived and although she had to return to the office in three days, it was still three days that she could spend with Steve. Clint himself was going away for those three days as well. Clint was supposed to have a different schedule than Maria but he was still on watch duty when it came to her, and so they still shared recess- and mission time together.

Where Clint would be going, Maria didn't know. She had asked him, but he hadn't really given her a straight answer. She had respected the fact that he had a private life as well, though she couldn't help but feel curious as to where he was going to go or simply where he lived in general. All she knew of Clint, was the agent side which he showed her and the, quite occasional, brotherly side which he showed whenever he realized Maria wasn't feeling all too well about something. Perhaps, someday, she'd find out more about him but for now, Steve was her main interest.

She had never visited him at his new apartment, even if he had lived there for the past six months now. When they did meet, it was usually at whatever place Maria would have gotten from SHIELD, or somewhere outside of Steve's home. Besides, they just didn't have the time to meet that much because of missions and Maria's training. It was a pity, but it was something they couldn't do anything about.

She held a small bag in her hand with the few possessions she owned placed in there. She didn't really have a place to sleep in between missions. No place she could call home. It was something she had not had for quite some time.

A dark coat was wrapped around her and she wore the same, light blue, jeans that she always wore along with a simple shirt. Other than her suit, she owned no more clothes but those she wore now and a few extra shirts and a cardigan. Yes, she did get paid by SHIELD and yes, she did have the money to buy a permanent home and have a closet filled with clothes. But she just hadn't really gotten round to buying an apartment yet.

She walked towards the door of the apartment building, placing her bag over her shoulder and hearing the sound of her daggers clashing against each other as she did. A gust of wind made her hair blow in front of her face as she once again looked up at the building. Slowly, she lifted her finger towards the button that was next to Steve's address. The sound of a buzz was heard as she pressed the silver button before she stepped back, her eyes staring at the small camera that was placed next to the door, waiting to hear Steve's voice.

 _"Yes?"_ his voice said after a few seconds of waiting.

She looked at the camera, seeing herself being displayed on the tiny screen above it before she smiled an unsure smile towards the camera, suddenly not knowing what to say.

 _"Maria? Come on in,"_ he said, his voice not revealing to her whether or not he was happy that she had arrived. She herself was happy, of course. But she was also nervous, just like she always was when meeting up with Steve again.

She remained silent, simply nodding her head and entering the building. What should she say, after all? "I'm back!" or "Honey, I'm home!" didn't quite fit.

It smelled odd in the first corridor. The smell was a mixture of freshly washed clothes and a bitter smell that Maria couldn't quite place. She looked around, seeing only a pair of stairs and wondering why SHIELD didn't afford to give Steve a more modern home with a lift in it. Then again, the building held a sort of old fashioned atmosphere to it and Maria wondered if it had been Steve that had chosen this place and not SHIELD.

The stairs creaked as she walked up them, her hand brushing over the wooden railing next to her. The first floor smelled slightly better, the bitter smell being gone while the second one smelled more like a humid church. The third staircase didn't creek at all and she noticed that it hadn't been used as much, or perhaps it had been replaced with a new set of staircases. Either way, she felt relieved to know that not the entire building would know that someone was walking up the stairs that led to the third floor. It was starting to annoy her a little bit which she most certainly knew was because of her childhood house. It had a floor that was just as noisy as those staircases.

Everything that reminded her of her childhood made her shiver nowadays.

At the fourth floor, the smell was better then it had been in the former floors and she almost, just faintly, thought she could sense the smell of a certain cologne which she recognized as Steve's. This only made her smile as she started half-walking, half-skipping, half-jogging down the corridor to the far most door; Steve's door. Which in turn made her look rather odd as one of Steve's neighbors opened her door and stepped outside, a phone in her hand.

"Oh," she said, startled by Maria who grew serious. "Are you new here?"

"Eh… No, I'm visiting a… friend," said Maria.

"Oh, okay. Who?" asked the blonde woman as she closed the door, a smile on her lips.

Although the smile was gracing her lips easily as if she truly meant it, Maria had spent far too much time with spies to know when someone was faking something. This made Maria suspicious of her.

"Maria," she greeted, stretching out her hand to the woman which surprised her as this had not been what she had asked. "I'm here to meet Mr. Rogers."

"Sharon," said the woman, smiling as she shook Maria's hand. "This is the first time I've met one of Steve's friends."

"Really? You know him well?" asked Maria, putting on the same smile as Sharon had, which made the other woman purse her lips slightly in response.

"Not really," she responded, lowering her head slightly before gesturing towards her phone. "Sorry, gotta go."

"Yes," replied Maria silently before walking past Sharon. "Nice meeting you!"

She heard Sharon walk away from her and she glanced back slightly, seeing her walk down the stairs hurriedly, her phone pressed against her ear. Something was amiss with her. She didn't seem alright. And no, that wasn't just the jealousy towards the very pretty woman living _next door_ to _Steve_ talking. It was the feeling of someone lying to her that was making her feel that way and it bothered her to not know whether she had lied about her name, or her relationship to Steve.

Her hand knocked three times on the door to Steve's apartment and her suspicions were washed away as excitement took over her body at the sound of Steve's footsteps walking towards the door. Her lips curled up into a smile and she bounced on her feet slightly before the doorknob turned and the door opened, quickly.

Steve stood there, wearing a simple, blue shirt which was tucked into his light-colored jeans while his blonde hair was combed nicely to the side in its usual way. A smile was on his lips which made his blue eyes tinkle slightly as they both stared at each other for a while before Steve stepped aside, letting Maria in.

A strange tension was built up between the both of them as they still hadn't said anything to each other. Maria placed her bag on the floor, against the wall in the small hallway close to the coats that Steve owned. As she started taking off her coat, Steve started helping her, taking it from her and hanging it by the rest of his coats before he gestured for her to enter.

"You've got a lovely home," said Maria, breaking the silence between them as she stepped into the living room. The tension did not go away though.

It was attached to the kitchen while the bathroom and bedroom were two separate rooms. It all reminded her of old movies that she used to watch late at night whenever she couldn't sleep, the living room that is. There was a TV, a small table in front of it, and a couch fit for two people. On the other side of the living room, one lonely chair stood standing against the wall, surrounded by multiple bookshelves, a lamp and a gramophone.

"Thank you," said Steve as he watched her walk towards the gramophone, looking at the multiple records that were stacked underneath it with curious eyes. "I don't think you've ever owned one of those, have you?"

"No," said Maria, shaking her head slightly before looking back at Steve, the tension still being there even though they had started to talk. "I had a cassette player though."

Steve smiled as Maria walked over to him, wondering what the tension was all about. Perhaps it was her creating it as she had just talked to Sharon. Or perhaps it was them both being insecure about where their relationship was now that created the tension.

"I have about three days off too," she reported, standing a couple feet away from him.

"Should have a week. I don't have a mission at the moment. Never know when I'll get called in though," reported Steve.

She nodded her head before looking down at the floor again, still not knowing what to say or do about the tension.

"How did the mission go?" asked Steve.

Maria's eyes widened slightly before she cleared her throat, nodding her head slightly. "Good. It went perfectly good. We got in, did what we needed to do and… you know, got out again. Yeah, everything went well…"

Steve raised an eyebrow at her rambling before nodding his head slightly. "You sure?"

Maria sighed, leaning against the backseat of the couch, looking away from Steve to the floor in front of her. If she told him her childish mistake, then maybe he'd think that it was too dangerous for her to ever be a part of his team.

"I accidentally did something that blew our cover," said Maria quietly.

It was quiet for a while until Maria saw Steve's feet appear in her line of vision. It caused her to look up again, seeing Steve standing there with a sheepish smile on his lips.

"If you feel ridiculed by that… don't. That can happen to anyone," said Steve softly.

"Not to you," replied Maria, to which Steve looked away, seeming to not know what to reply to that. "Either way, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we're together again. Right?"

At this, Steve looked back at her, a smile appearing on his lips as he took a few steps forwards. He placed a finger underneath of her chin and simply looked down into her eyes. The blue color of his eyes still stunned her and the emotions that overwhelmed her when he touched her and looked at her with that loving smile made her entire body relax, wanting to simply fall against him and be held by him. Though, when she looked even deeper into his eyes, she saw the same emotions she had seen on the helicarrier that day they had first met. The emotions of dread, sadness and loneliness.

"I'm sorry," said Maria, making Steve's smile falter slightly as he looked at her confused, his other hand resting on her upper arm. "I should've been here for you when you moved here… when you had to adapt to this world."

"No," said Steve shaking his head slightly as he moved even closer to her, the hand that held his chin slowly moving down to her shoulders where her hair was resting in waves. He softly curled his fingers around her hair, seeming to enjoy the silky feeling. "It doesn't matter. You had training to do."

"Yes, but Steve… We're… I'm…" said Maria, suddenly not knowing what she was to him.

After the picnic in the park and the shooting… Neither of them had spoken about what they were to each other. Although they had spent quite some time together, they had never really talked about it and she didn't know what she was to him. All she knew, was that Steve was _her everything_.

"You're my girl?" finished Steve, making Maria widen her eyes.

"I-I'm your girl?" she asked in a whisper, causing Steve to smile again, their noses suddenly touching each other as Steve placed himself in-between Maria's legs as she still was leaning against the couch.

"If you want…" said Steve quietly, his courage suddenly seeming to disappear slightly, probably because Maria wasn't giving him any affection back.

He started to back up again, though Maria stood up and placed her arms around his neck, pressing her forehead against his, a move that forced her to actually stand up on her tiptoes. He immediately responded by locking his arms around her waist, a smile gracing his lips again.

"Of course…" breathed Maria, the same smile spreading to her lips as the tension disappeared from the room, a warm feeling replacing it. "That's all I've wanted ever since I saw you…" Although it sounded cheesy, Maria couldn't deny that it wasn't the truth. "With you… I'm home."

Steve pressed her closer to him, closing his eyes as Maria let him, her words seeming to have warmed his heart a lot.

"I feel exactly the same…" breathed Steve. "I've missed you…"

"I've missed you too, Steve," replied Maria, pressing a light kiss to the side of his lips, the fact that Steve pressed himself even closer to her when she did so giving her courage to press another kiss fully to his lips.

Her earlier doubts of where she wanted to live were gone as Steve responded immediately to the kiss. She knew where she wanted to live. She wanted to live with him. To be with him and see him every day. The world seemed so much brighter whenever Steve was around, and she just wanted that to always be.

Beside him, she was home.


	3. Chapter 3, Insecurities

_Rewritten 2018_

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 3~  
Insecurities  
**

 **96 hours earlier**

 **~Steve's POV~**

His eyes fluttered open slowly, the sleepy state he was in slowly drifting away. Just as every morning, a minute of confusion passed over him as he saw the strange ceiling above him along with the different air and sounds coming from outside. He was no longer in Brooklyn, that much was clear, and he was no longer in the house he had grown up in nor was he in some place with the army.

And then, just like always, the memories came flooding to him. Painful memories of Bucky falling – leaving him forever – and of the ice-cold water gushing in, making him shiver uncontrollably, choke, until darkness overtook him.

However, those memories weren't the only ones that came to him that morning. Darkness seemed to pass him by as memories of Maria flashed by his eyes. Memories of her smile, her scent and her way of swaying her hips as she walked. It was an innocent sway of her hips, an unconscious one that simply looked perfect on her. Those memories made him smile, something he usually didn't do during the mornings.

That morning, Steve realized that he had slept through the entire night. In this new age, this was a rare accomplishment. Usually, he'd toss and turn, maybe get two or three hours of sleep drenched in nightmares, or he gave up and went for a run in the middle of the night. But not this time. This time, he slept through the entire night and even dreamt a peaceful dream about him going out fishing with Tony. The memory of the dream felt odd to Steve as he sat up, both because he wasn't used to dreaming about nice things and because he would never even think about doing something like that with Tony. Not because it was Tony, but because he knew that Tony would get bored after five minutes.

As he stretched his back, a delicious smell entered his nose, making him scrunch up his face in confusion as he wondered where the smell came from. Quickly, he glanced over his shoulder as he sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the other side of the bed and realizing that Maria wasn't there. It had been the first time that he'd ever slept in the same bed as a woman and it had done him good, apparently. After all, he'd slept the entire night and he'd even felt somewhat at peace when he woke up.

The smell was a sweet one mixed with the smell of melted butter, and he immediately recognized it. It was almost the exact same smell as his mother's pancakes had had, and he found himself drawn to it as he stood up, walking towards the bedroom door.

When he opened it, sticking his head out, he was met with the sight of something that almost melted his heart. It was a beautiful sight to him and he couldn't help but smile cheekily as his eyes adored the woman standing in his kitchen, a silken dressing gown wrapped around her, showing off her curves while she walked around on bare feet, hair still tousled from the long night's sleep.

She stood in front of the stove, spatula in her right hand while she held a cup of tea in her other hand. On the countertop next to the stove was a plate with finished pancakes, along with a bowl of batter.

"Morning," she said, surprising Steve as he thought he'd been quiet.

"Morning," he said as he walked out of the bedroom, leaving the door open, and walking towards Maria. "Breakfast?"

"Well…" said Maria, glancing at him before biting her bottom lip as she smirked. "Brunch."

"Huh?" asked Steve before looking over at the clock that was hanging on the kitchen wall, raising his eyebrows as he saw the time. "Eleven o'clock?"

"Yes, sleepy head," said Maria, giggling at his surprised look. "You looked like you needed it. Didn't even stir when I accidentally knocked a vase over. Don't worry, it didn't break."

"Yeah… I've had some trouble sleeping lately." Steve awkwardly itched the back of his head, looking away from the concerned look Maria gave him. It both warmed his heart and made him feel guilty, not wanting to burden her with his own worries.

"Why?" she asked, flipping over the current pancake that was on the plate to its other side with a graceful twirl of the spatula.

"I don't know," shrugged Steve, being honest with her although he had his suspicions. "Maybe because of what I've been through… The moment I close my eyes, I'm back in Brooklyn with Bucky. I'm just me again and all that's happened was just an odd dream. I'm still the third wheel on each double date Bucky wants to set me up with. I'm still a scrawny kid. I'm still just… _Steve._ "

She looked at him as he spoke, her eyes showing that she was listening intently to what he was saying which relieved him as it did feel good to talk about it.

"Not Captain America. Not the one that's out of time…"

"Steve," began Maria, placing the pancake on top of the rest of the finished pancakes before placing a new portion of batter on the hot plate. She looked over at him as he leaned against the counter close to the stove. Though, everything in the small kitchen he owned was close to the stove. "You may have these super soldier powers now but that doesn't change who you are inside. It's strange to suddenly have these powers, yes, and it's even stranger to have them make you survive something like _that_ so that you'd end up here in the 21st century. I understand that. I wouldn't have adapted as well as you have already, Steve. You're so strong. And it's understandable that you're still in the process of adapting and with that, sleepless nights do come."

"A lot of sleepless nights," added Steve as Maria flipped another pancake over to its other side before she walked with the now empty bowl to the sink, filling it with water and placing it in the sink with the rest of the dishes. "What do I do?"

Maria turned to him, her eyes staring straight at him, her eyebrows crinkled up in the same worried way that they always seemed to do whenever Steve talked to her about this.

"Honestly… I don't know. Keep fighting." Maria walked over to him, stopping in front of him, her toes touching Steve's as he stood there, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. He wouldn't usually wear something like that to bed, but since he had Maria with him now, it didn't seem appropriate to wear what he'd normally wear, meaning almost nothing as most men do. "Keep adapting and just try to find your place in this world. I'll help you, in any way I can… But it's going to be hard… which is something you're going to have to be prepared for."

"I don't have much of a choice. I doubt Stark can make a time-machine." It was supposed to come out as a joke, but Steve did not miss how Maria's smile faltered, and something flashed past her eyes.

"Would you?"

He remained silent, staring at her.

"Would you go back if you had the chance?"

Steve remained monotonous, placing his hands on her hips, feeling the smooth fabric of her dressing gown. "The answer would have been a definite yes six months ago."

"And now?"

She was fishing for something. Stability, maybe, or maybe a reason to not give her all in this relationship. Either way, Steve was not about to let her overthink this. He put on a sheepish smile, lifting one hand up from her hips towards her cheek before gently nudging her even closer to him. As he had seen on movies, Steve let his lips linger close to hers. He felt her breathing deeply, stirring something inside of himself.

"Now… Now I have you."

The trance he had put Maria in by that past move lifted, and Maria smiled widely at his words.

"Thank you for that. You keep me grounded."

"Anything for you," she said placing her arms around Steve's neck before placing a kiss to his nose, earning a smile from Steve.

 **~Maria's POV~**

For some odd reason, her mind was on the night of the shooting that happened six months ago. The thing that almost ruined their first date. She was still wondering who the man that had tried to kill them was and she also wondered if anyone ever investigated the case any further. Fury had said he'd take care of it; put his best men on the case. But… Wasn't Steve one of his best men? Why was he not on the case? Did that mean Fury had let it go?

This was the reason for her being so quiet as she ate the pancakes with Steve, the sound of one of Steve's records playing in the background being the only other sound in the apartment at the moment. Her eyes were fixated on her plate, having eaten only two pancakes over the course of half an hour while Steve had eaten at least twenty.

"Maria?" he asked, making her look at him as he sat on the other end of the small, wooden table that was placed in the kitchen area of Steve's apartment. The paper lying next to his plate was folded again which meant that he had already read it. She wondered how long he'd been looking at her staring down at the small piece of pancake that was still on her plate.

"Mm?" she asked, quickly putting the piece in her mouth and realizing it had turned cold.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Steve. "You've been in your own world for nearly fifteen minutes now."

He smiled softly at her as she felt conflicted about whether or not she wanted to tell him about what was on her mind or not. After all, this was their first day together and she did not want to ruin it by asking questions about something he might not feel comfortable to talk about just yet. At least not when he wasn't Captain America. The conversation they'd had that morning showed to her that he missed being only Steve Rogers from time to time and she didn't want to bring up work now. Not yet anyway.

So, she did the only reasonable thing – lie.

"Yesterday, I met a woman outside of your apartment… I think she lives two doors down the hallway… Who is she?" asked Maria.

"You mean Sharon?" asked Steve, surprising Maria that Steve called her by her first name already… though she hadn't said a last name to Maria so maybe she kept it to herself. "She's my neighbor, a nurse I think."

"A nurse?" asked Maria to which Steve furrowed his brow.

"Yes… a nurse," replied Steve, his voice showing that he was wondering why she was asking. "Why?"

"Oh… Just thinking. I mean, she seemed nice…"

"I've spoken to her two or three times… but yeah, she seems nice," said Steve, being distracted by the record ending, to which he stood up to put the record back where it belonged on the shelves.

"I'll clean this up," said Maria, realizing that the pancakes were all eaten and that her tea was cold and undrinkable by now. "Do you want more coffee? There's still some left."

"No, thanks," said Steve as he watched her pile the plates on top of each other before balancing them to the sink, placing them in there before letting the water run over them. "You know, I can do that if you want."

"No, it's okay," said Maria. "I made the mess so I'll clean up."

Although it was true that she had made the pancakes and felt obliged to clean up after herself, there was also a hint of something else inside of her that made her feel obliged to do the dishes herself instead of letting Steve do them. Most likely, it was a mental scar from her past…

"I'll take a shower then. Maybe I can show you around a little here in Washington. Unless you've been here before?" asked Steve, making Maria look back at him with a smile.

"No. I'd like that," said Maria with a nod of her head to which Steve smiled as well.

 **72 hours earlier**

The next day, her eyes fluttered open as she lay in bed. She had had a nice dream and therefore, she felt at piece when she woke up and did therefore ignore the painful fact that she had to attend a meeting at SHIELD headquarters. She hoped that it was not a meeting that would end in her having a new mission. She had enjoyed staying with Steve for a little while.

When she looked straight forwards, she could see the ceiling of Steve's apartment and she couldn't help but smile at the fact that they hadn't moved since last night. Maria was still lying on her back while one of Steve's arms was draped over her lower stomach. His head rested on her stomach, right underneath her bust and as he lay there, holding her close to him, he reminded her of a young boy clinging onto his mother because he was afraid of the dark. In a way, it was the truth. Steve still had problems with sleeping since after the war and everything he had been through. For some reason, her being there helped him sleep better.

The memories of their past day together made Maria smile slightly. The way he had opened up about everything had only strengthened their relationship and their love for each other. Maria herself had told about some of the worst things she had done under the influence of her past employee and although those things were dark, Steve hadn't showed any sign of disgust towards her afterwards. In fact, he had only held her closer to him.

Softly, she let her hand brush through Steve's hair, causing him to stir in his sleep. At first, his entire body tensed. Though as he realized where he was, he relaxed again and simply stretched his body slightly, sighing a delightful sigh before looking up at Maria. Although the angle was rather awkward since her bust was in the way, the look Steve gave her filled her entire heart with warmth.

"Good morning," said Maria with a smile, continuing to brush her fingers through his hair. "Did you sleep well?"

Steve grinned, lifting his head up and shifting so that his head was on the pillow next to Maria. "I did."

"Two nights in a row now," praised Maria with a smile as she shifted so she lay on her side again.

"Yeah… thanks to you," said Steve, glancing to the side with a soft smile playing on his lips.

Maria placed a hand on his chest, tracing imaginary circles on his chest with her index finger while they both simply stared into each other's eyes for a while.

Until the moment was ruined by Maria's stomach rumbling quite loudly. A blush appeared on her cheeks when this happened though Steve simply chuckled.

"I'll make some breakfast," said Steve, earning a groan from Maria.

"Can't we stay in bed a little longer?" she asked as Steve sat up, looking down at her with amused eyes.

"You can't stay in bed all day. You have a meeting today," said Steve, rubbing a hand over her arm once before standing up and moving out to where the kitchen was.

With a deep sigh, Maria sat up as well, her hair falling into her face as she did before she looked around at the room. The sight of the red folder placed underneath of multiple files caught her eye. She knew that she was going to forget that the folder was placed there if she simply let it be, and she needed to bring it with her to deliver it to SHIELD; it was her report of her previous mission after all.

Therefore, she stood up, stretching her back once before doing so. With slow and tired steps, she walked towards the desk on which the files were stacked and clumsily started to pick the files up into her arms in order to get to her folder. Though, in her sleepy state, she didn't really have a good grip on the files and all of the files ended up on the floor. With a roll of her eyes, she crouched down and started to pick them all up again. Placing them next to her folder. When she picked up the last file, a picture fell out of it and she hastily grabbed it. She was about to put it back when the person of which the picture was caught her eye.

This was not one of her files that she had had to use during her missions because this picture was of Peggy Carter.

Carefully, she looked outside of the door only to see Steve frying a few eggs with his back turned towards her. With a curious and slightly saddened heart, she sat down on the bed and opened the file from which the picture had fallen. It was indeed a file dedicated to Peggy, one of the founders of SHIELD. There were multiple pages of information about her life, her work for SHIELD and her work with Stark along with multiple pictures of her before the time of SHIELD, and after. Some things were circled with a red pen, such as Peggy's name and some of the things she did for SHIELD. Though the thing that caught Maria's eyes was the fact that Steve had circled her current address with the red pen at least three times.

With her smile from her nice dream and morning cuddle with Steve gone, she placed the file on top of the others, the picture back where it belonged. For a moment, she simply stood there, her eyes plastered on the file while thoughts swiveled around in her head. Of course Steve wasn't just going to get over Peggy like that and of course Maria shouldn't be angry with him for wanting to visit her now that he finally could, but there was something about this that still made her sad.

Peggy was a million times more beautiful than Maria was and she had done so many better things than Maria had ever done in her entire life. She knew that she could never measure up with the standards of Peggy and she was afraid that Steve might realize this someday when he didn't need Maria to fall asleep anymore, when he didn't need her to be by his side in order to smile a genuine smile again. After all, Steve was strong. He'd adapt to this world. But would he keep Maria by his side after he had adapted?

Grabbing the red folder, she made her way out into the living room. When Steve turned around to look at her, smiling at her, she was confused as to what to do. After all, she wasn't happy anymore nor was she sad. It felt more like anger than anything though she didn't want to be angry. Not with Steve.

Instead of returning the smile, she walked over to her bag and placed the red folder in it.

"You okay?" asked Steve as he watched her prepare her bag for the meeting that was going to happen later that day.

"I hope I have enough space for my clothes in here along with that folder," said Maria quietly as she avoided to look at Steve and simply entered the bedroom again, grabbing the few clothes she owned from the closet before brushing past Steve who had followed her, pressing the clothes into her bag.

"Maria, what are you doing? You can keep your clothes here." Steve continued to follow Maria as she walked all over the apartment, grabbing the few things she owned before pushing them into her bag.

The anger she felt inside of her turned into fear. She couldn't go through losing Steve. The last time she lost someone she loved in a romantic way, she lost that person because she realized he was a douche. But Steve, Steve was _perfect_. He had never done anything wrong and all she wanted was to stay with him. What if she couldn't do that after Steve had adapted to the new world? What if she couldn't do that when he realized that she was nothing more but a rotten egg amongst the millions of other people that Steve could spend his life with… what if he realized that all she did was make the wrong decisions?

It wasn't until Steve placed a hand on her arm that she stopped walking and simply froze on the spot. "Maria, talk to me. What is going on?" Her gaze lingered on the wooden floor as Steve moved to stand in front of her. "Tell me. You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Quickly, her eyes looked up at Steve and the moment she saw his blue eyes, his worried eyes, tears welled up in her eyes. A look of confusion appeared on Steve's face before he embraced her quickly.

"Don't leave me…" she managed to say in between sobs.

"What?" asked Steve, breaking the embrace and holding her steady by keeping a firm grip on both of her upper arms. "I'm not leaving you. I'm never leaving you."

Softly, Steve placed his hands on her cheeks, brushing away tears that had managed to slip past her eyelashes. He looked her deep in the eyes and as she stared back into the amazingly blue eyes of his, she felt even more torn and confused. The love she saw in his eyes were no lies. She had seen fake love before and this was not it. This was real.

"Just… don't leave me…" was all Maria could say before a sob escaped her. She couldn't tell him about the file. Something hindered her from doing so.

"O-Okay," said Steve as Maria pressed her face against his chest, holding a tight grip on him. "I promise," he said as he let his arms embrace her, holding her tightly and letting his chin rest on the top of her head.


	4. Chapter 4, The Meeting

_Rewritten 2018_

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 4~  
The Meeting  
**

SHIELD headquarters was massive. She had only ever been on the lower levels of the building for training with Barton. Now, however, she was supposed to go to the upper floors where the more important people of SHIELD worked such as Fury, Carson, Pierce and many others. Maria therefore couldn't help but feel a little nervous about this – what if she got lost?

While holding her report of the previous mission in her arms, she walked over the marble floor that had been cleaned so well that she could see her reflection in it. The heels of many women who worked there clicked loudly on the floor though, since Maria was only in her converse, her soles only squealed from time to time, causing her to feel a little unprofessional. The walls were high on the level where the entrance was and after she'd passed security, only flashing her ID towards them before walking on, the walls were decorated with the names of people that had done SHIELD good. She read them, knowing none of them except for some names that were placed on the last board. Amongst them were for example:

 _Phil Coulson._

 _Clint Barton._

 _Grant Ward._

 _Steve Rogers._

However, she didn't have much time to reflect on the names she recognized since her meeting was set to start in five minutes and she had to get up. She quickly took out her new phone which Stark had given her and read through the text message Fury had sent her about which floor the meeting was going to be on. As she did this, she continued to walk towards the elevators though didn't look up from her phone. Had it not been for her shoes making a strange noise on the marble floor again which caused her look up to see if anyone had noticed it, she would've never seen the young man that was about to walk into her.

She exclaimed a strange noise before placing a hand on his arm, hindering him from walking into her. He had himself been busy with reading something on his own phone and looked just as shocked as Maria at nearly having bumped into someone.

"Sorry!" the man exclaimed, using one finger to push his large glasses further up his nose before he looked at her with ice blue eyes. "I was just- Sorry!"

"No, that's okay," chuckled Maria, letting go of the man as they both stood there, facing each other while people walked past them in a hurry, not caring for the two newcomers. "I was doing the same. Hey, can you help me, maybe? I have a meeting though I'm not a hundred percent sure of where to go… there's so many elevators…"

The man nodded his head, gesturing to his phone. "Can't help too much seeing as I've got the same problem. Maybe it's the same meeting?"

"That would be an amazing coincidence… Which floor are you going to?" asked Maria.

"Floor… 22," said the man, double checking his phone before answering her.

"Me too," said Maria with a smile. "Let's go together. I don't want to get lost and be the only one that arrives late."

The man chuckled slightly before following her to the elevator. He was no older than her though also looked far younger in appearance. Had it not been for his adult voice and the fact that he was allowed to come to a SHIELD meeting, Maria would've thought that he was still in high school.

As she pressed the button to call the elevator, she placed her phone back into her pocket, earning the attention of the man.

"Is that a Stark phone?" asked the man, gesturing towards her pocket.

"Oh, yeah, it is," she replied with a smile as the elevator doors opened.

The elevator was quite interesting as its walls were pure glass, which made it possible for the two of them to look out over the broad view that the people had from the higher floors. The man was the one that assigned the elevator to floor 22 while Maria simply looked out through the windows.

"They're quite expensive," said the man, making her turn back to him again.

"Yeah… well, I got it for free," said Maria, earning a puzzled look from the man. "Lost mine during the Battle of New York and well… I think he wanted to spy on me."

"Wait – who? Stark?" asked the man, once again pushing his glasses further up his nose as they kept gliding down.

"Yup," said Maria, nodding her head.

"You know him?" asked the man to which Maria simply smiled. "Cool."

"I'm Maria by the way. Maria Dalton," she said, extending her hand to him.

For a moment, he looked rather shocked before he grabbed her hand and carefully shook it. "That explains why you know Stark. Martin Lund. Engineer from Sweden. Or… hacker if you want to call me that."

"Oh," replied Maria as they let go of each other's hands. "Can't hear you're from Sweden."

"Thanks," said Martin, nodding his head at her. "I think, if I'm not mistaking, that I'm assigned to help you and your team through this upcoming mission."

"As a sort of analyst or whatever you call them?" asked Maria, earning a nod from Martin. "That's a very new technique, isn't it?"

"It is," said Martin. "Got called in just for it."

"So, you work for SHIELD? Are you an agent or-"

"No, I don't technically work for SHIELD. I mean, not yet. This is pretty much the first job I've ever done for SHIELD," said Martin. "I'm a freelancer. Hack into stuff for money. Never thought SHIELD would ask me to help them. Thought they'd more, like, arrest me."

Maria laughed lightly at that. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

The doors opened and Martin and Maria walked out. The meeting was meant to start in about two minutes and they still had no clue of which room it was in. The hallway was long and dimly lit though the floor was made of the same marble stone as the one on the first level, reflecting whatever light there was a little extra to make it look brighter than it was in there.

"And now?" asked Martin quietly as they walked into the hallway, looking at the multiple doors that all seemed to be locked.

"No idea…" replied Maria quietly.

One of the doors opened and for a moment, Maria thought it was Fury that was going to walk outside and wave them in for the meeting. However, it wasn't. Instead, an elderly man walked out, closing the door behind him. Maria and Martin stopped in the hallway, making room for the man to pass them by though he didn't. Instead, he stopped and looked at Maria with curious eyes.

"Maria Dalton, right?" the man asked, his expensive suit causing Maria to feel far too poor to even walk around him. She was simply wearing a t-shirt and some old jeans that she had owned for almost three years now. Her converse weren't in the best of shapes either.

"Uh, yes," she said, shaking his hand and feeling rather surprised at the force that was behind it.

"Mitch Carson, head of security," said the man, smiling a strange smile at her. She was sure it was supposed to be kind though there was something hidden behind it, something she didn't like.

"Ah, right," said Maria as he let go of her hand.

"Is that the report from your last mission? Quite an impressive first mission you got. A lot of trust put into you," said the man as he stretched his hand out towards the red file in her arms. "Is the USB in there as well?"

Maria watched him for a while as he stared straight back at her. There was something in the back of her head that told her not to give this man her report but at the same time, he was head of security. The feeling was probably just her trust issues caused by her past life. Instead, she smiled and let the feeling go, deciding to trust this man. After all, he was working for SHIELD.

"Yes, everything's in there. Not sure what to do with it now, actually," said Maria.

"Everything goes through me either way, so I can take it," said Carson, placing the file underneath of his arm, barely even waiting for Maria to hand it over to him. "The last door to the left. Don't be late. Fury doesn't like that."

Maria smiled and thanked him before dragging Martin with her towards where Carson had said the meeting was.

"Dude," whispered Martin to Maria as she was about to open the door. "He was creepy."

Maria glanced at Martin before opening the door, seeing that the meeting had already started.

"Well, well," said Fury as Maria and Martin closed the door behind them, every single pair of eyes on them.

Barton was sitting on the opposite side of the room, an amused look on his face while Natasha, who sat next to him, rolled her eyes at Clint while gesturing towards two empty chairs at the end of the large table that was located in the room.

"Better late than never, I suppose," said Fury before he furrowed his brow. "Where's the report?"

"Oh," said Maria as she sat down. "I-I gave it to Mr. Carson."

Fury raised an eyebrow.

"A little detour was what you did," said Fury. "Next time, give it to me and come when the meeting _starts._ "

Maria nodded her head, looking down at the table in front of her where a screen lit up. However, she quickly looked away from the screen again as her curiosity for who were actually there on the meeting got the better of her.

She saw Sitwell, an agent that she had met during her first mission with the Avengers. He had been the agent to tell them about the location of Loki and from what Maria remembered, he seemed like a nice guy. Opposite of him, Rumlow was positioned and although Maria knew that he did not have any higher level than Sitwell, he was still a part of Captain America's team most of the times and therefore, he was looked at as a trusted man. Next to Rumlow, an agent sat that Maria recognized from, unfortunately, the reports of missing people that had come in after the Battle of New York. After all, there had been a great mess and people had gone missing under some of the rubble. Luckily, all people were found though not everyone had been alive. Miller's family; his wife and two daughters, had been found dead after an explosion had gone off. Because of his grief, he hadn't been on duty for at least five months which meant that this would be his first month back in the game again. She wondered if this quite skilled spy would be a part of whatever mission was going to take place.

Although she still secretly hoped there would not be a mission and that she could continue staying at home with Steve for a little while longer.

Of course, Romanoff and Barton were seated next to each other on the same side of the table as Sitwell. Barton and Romanoff were the two people which Maria knew she was going to work a lot with and although she and Natasha might not have the same, strong friendship bond as Clint, Maria looked up at her with admiration. She was a strong and independent woman and she craved to be more like her. This admiration, however, had unfortunately not made it easier for Maria to relax around the woman and befriend her.

It was not jealousy or respect, or anything else that was causing Maria to back away from Natasha and not become more than acquainted with her. It was a different thing, a psychological thing in her mind that caused her to do this with every woman she ever met; a mental scar from her past. It bugged her, though she saw no way around the uneasiness of spending time with a woman for longer than necessary. It was indeed something that she was going to have to work on.

Martin was sat next to her who, just like herself, seemed to feel just as lost and curious. Her inspection of him, however, was short lived as Fury himself was standing at the end of the table, a serious look in his eye as he stared at her. It caused her to furrow her brow and soon, she realized that everyone was looking at her with quite serious looks on their faces. Even Martin was watching her with careful eyes.

Slowly, Maria looked down at the screen, immediately knowing she had missed something in the meeting and mentally slapping herself for not paying more attention. Though, she felt relieved that she hadn't when she saw what was shown on the screens in front of each person. It was a picture of a man with curly, blonde hair and blue eyes. He was walking down the street, three men wearing suits walking behind him though he himself didn't wear a suit. Instead, he wore simple clothes, a pair of jeans, boots, and a jumper with a coat over it. Though, his clothes were all black. He had grown a beard since she had last seen him and although it suited him, the scar she had left on him did not. It was still slightly pink and she soon realized that she had hurt him more than she had realized she had all those years ago.

With wide eyes, she looked up at Fury who sighed at her look. "I know what you are thinking and no, I will not push you into doing this. But, you are the one that knows him the best."

"And he knows my face," said Maria. "Whatever you want us to do; me being there will risk the entire operation."

"Or not," said Fury. "I want you to track him down, find where he is hiding and take him down."

"That's never going to work. Artur has a lot of guards in his buildings and the moment some of those cameras see my face or one of those guards, every single force he has will be put on us."

She was never going to go back to that man ever again. Never in her life was she going to even breathe the same air as him. Never.

"All you will need to do is help track him down. Lund will help you with that as well as getting you all into the building when the time comes. All except for Dalton," said Fury, earning an exasperated sigh from Maria.

"Why are you after him all of a sudden?" asked Maria quietly.

"We have reasons to believe he was the man that ordered for a bullet to be sent through your head," said Fury, earning a look from Maria as he watched her intently, leaning forwards with his hands on the table. "We traced the man that tried to kill you and captain Rogers back to his own apartment. He was sloppy, leaving behind far too much evidence that even a novice could've followed him. However, we didn't exactly find him. When we got there, he was dead. Strangled. So, we looked at the video surveillance and, there he was, Artur Kuznetsov."

"What?" asked Maria, furrowing her brow. They had found him by simply looking at video surveillance? That didn't add up. Artur knew every single move that anyone would make to try and find him, Maria knew this as he had taught her this himself. "Why would he be so sloppy?"

"Most likely because he wants to be found which is why there's going to be more than one team," said Fury. "Your team will infiltrate and get caught. You drop a hacking device, Lund helps with leading the second team inside as he will now have access to the entire building's intel as well as where the guards are planted. Then we take the son of a bitch down."

Maria didn't feel comfortable about this. Although the plan sounded like something that could work, it was still not waterproof. Not to mention the fact that it was still Artur that they were going to go after.

"Are you okay with this, Dalton?" asked Fury as he straightened up again, clasping his hands together behind his back.

"I-" started Maria, wanting to tell Fury to shove his plan somewhere not so nice, though her eyes caught the sight of Natasha and she remembered her previous thoughts about wanting to be more brave and independent, like her. And so, she changed her sentence. "I am."

"Good," said Fury. "Now, I hope you won't say anything to Rogers. He has two days off and the moment he hears about this-"

"He'll want in," interrupted Romanoff. "Doesn't sound too bad, director."

Barton agreed, nodding his head. "Having more people on the second team might be a good idea."

"Who's on which team?" asked Maria, earning a look from Fury before he responded.

"Team one will be Miller, Barton and Dalton. Team two will be Romanoff and Rumlow. The two of you will take a couple of the better agents with you as backup and Lund - you know what to do?"

"I do, sir," said Martin with a nod of his head before he once again pushed his glasses up his nose. "Sorry, though, sir, but, where do I have my desk?"

"I am quite sure that you have all the necessary gear at home since you managed to hack into SHIELD last week," said Fury, earning a flustered look from Martin.

"Well… yes…" Maria smirked, knowing she was going to like working with Martin.

"We don't have a desk ready for you here yet. And it won't be ready before the mission either. Is there any problem with that?" asked Fury, earning a shake of Martin's head.

"Absolutely not, sir," said Martin.

"Sitwell will provide Miller with the hacking device," said Fury, earning nods from the two addressed agents. "Now, I want you all to go home and rest. Tomorrow morning, your mission starts in Hell's Kitchen. Every detail you need - every gadget; _everything_ will be handed to Miller by Sitwell. Do _not_ be late."

When he said the last part, his eyes looked over at Maria and she pursed her lips slightly, looking away from the Director as everyone started to stand up, the meeting apparently being over. Barton nodded his head at her once before leaving the room to which she smiled. She and Martin stayed put in the room as the others walked past them which caused for Fury to have the opportunity to call her name.

"Dalton," he said. "Do you mind staying behind?"

With a nod of her head, Maria sat down again on her chair since she had just been standing up. Martin leaned down to her saying; "Hear ya' tomorrow."

She smiled at him once before he left, closing the door behind him. Immediately, Maria looked over at Fury with expecting and curious eyes. She was sure that this was going to be about her next mission and she felt nervous about this.

"I'll talk to Rogers about the mission," said Fury, crossing his arms over his chest as he stayed put at the end of the table, earning a nod from Maria.

"If you want, I can talk to him-"

"I think he'd appreciate it more if I talked to him," said Fury, once again earning a nod from Maria.

It felt odd that this was what he had asked her to stay behind for and so, she had to say something about it.

"Sir, if you don't mind," she started. "Surely you didn't ask me to stay behind because of Steve?"

"No," replied Fury, uncrossing his arms again before he started to round the table, slowly walking towards Maria. "I wanted to talk about your last mission."

Maria's eyes widened. Was this the yelling part that she had feared so much? The part where Fury would scold her for not being more careful, for pressing that red button? Though, when she looked at him, he didn't seem to be mad or angry with her. Instead, there seemed to be a worried look on his face. Besides, the report of her last mission hadn't been given to Fury, unless he had read Barton's report already. Perhaps he didn't know of her failure.

"Did you read the file on the USB?" asked Fury, earning a confused look on Maria's face.

"I don't have clearance for that file," said Maria. "You said so yourself that that was the reason for why I was a good agent to take on the mission. I'm not allowed to read the-"

"You wouldn't have cared about the clearance anyway," said Fury with an amused tone to his voice to which Maria once again pursed her lips, nodding her head.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have," she mumbled. "But I didn't read it. The idea never came to my mind. After all, you said it was nothing important but that SHIELD still wanted it back. See? I followed orders." Maria flushed at her rambling, cursing herself for not acting professional.

"Yes," replied Fury quickly, not bothered by her following orders. "Tell me again, who did you give the report to? And the USB?"

"I gave both to this Carson guy. Seemed nice," said Maria.

"Why?" asked Fury, causing Maria to cock her head to the side as Fury placed himself behind her chair.

"What do you mean, why? He greeted me and told me he could take it, that each report went through him anyway," said Maria, looking down at the table as she spoke, earning a look from Fury.

"He said that?" asked Fury, once again earning a confused look from Maria.

"Yes," she said quietly, worry latching onto her. "Was it not true?"

"Never mind," said Fury, confusing her even more. He walked back into her line of vision before once again placing his hands behind his back. "You can go now, Dalton. Prepare yourself for the upcoming mission."

"Alright sir," said Maria quietly as she stood up. Before she placed her hand on the doorknob, however, she looked back at him. "Everything alright, sir?"

"Yes," said Fury, turning back to her. "As long as you stay away from big red buttons."

Maria frowned though felt relieved at the amused tone that Fury had used. With a nod of her head towards the Director, she left the room.


	5. Chapter 5, I Don't Like It

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 5~  
I Don't Like It  
**

 _Call me!  
\- Stark _

With a sigh, Maria dialed Tony's number before pressing her phone to her ear at the same time a she made her way down the busy streets of Washington during lunchtime. She was determined to get a cab though so far, both cabs she had managed to get to see her had been stolen by some other person who rudely had pushed her away and entered the cab before her. It was during moments like this that she, although she felt ashamed over it, wished she was still in her old life and that she could simply pull out a knife and tell the person to go away or else! Though, all she could do now was to curse and try again with another taxi cab.

When the familiar sound of Stark's voice vibrated against her ear, she pressed a finger to her other ear in order to try and hear Tony's voice better over the surrounding sounds. Cars were honking at each other, people were walking past her either talking loudly or bumping into her, dogs barked and, to top it all, there was a piece of the road that needed to be renewed which meant that the sound of drills could be heard as well.

"Yes?" she nearly shouted, glaring at someone who bumped into her, nearly making her fall over.

 _"I need you to come to the Stark Tower."_

"What? Why?" asked Maria, wrinkling her forehead in confusion and sighing a frustrated sigh as someone else managed to get a cab as if it was as easy as one two three.

 _"Banner and I had been doing some research, as you asked, and we think that maybe, just maybe, your blood could have something to do with your – uh – condition."_

"My condition?" asked Maria at the same time as someone, again, bumped into her.

 _"You know, the entire healing-yourself-thing?"_

"Is that what we're calling it now?" asked Maria with a sarcastic tone to her voice before she sighed again. "Alright, so what, you want me to give you a blood sample or something?"

It wasn't all that far too walk all the way to Steve's apartment though the people around her bothered her quite a lot and she couldn't deal with walking through such a massive amount of people for longer than five minutes. However, it looked as though she'd have to walk anyway.

 _"Yes, exactly. It would be very nice if you could give it about… now. Banner's nodding his head in agreement. Yes you are."_

"Look, Tony," said Maria with yet another sigh. "I can't. I'm in Washington at the moment-"

 _"Oh, I know. I tracked your phone."_

She froze slightly as he said this before she shook her head and pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose, stopping infront of a small shop that sold a little bit of everything. Though, it looked like they mostly sold DVD:s.

"Whatever," she said. "But I can't-"

 _"I can send a jet to your location and it can be there in about, an hour… if we push it to its limits."_

"No, Tony, I _can't_. I have a mission tomorrow and I can't just go away like that the day before."

 _"I promise you'll be back before ten?"_

"No," said Maria sternly, entering the little shop as a thought struck her.

This was the last night she would have with Steve before the mission and who knew what would happen afterwards. The least she could do was do something nice with Steve and she would not let her plan be ruined by a Stark.

"This evening does not work. How about… I come to you after my mission. I'll be in Hell's Kitchen then so, it could work," said Maria, quickly glancing over the DVD:s though already knowing which one she wanted to buy for their evening together.

 _"So, in two days then?"_

Grabbing the DVD she wanted, she walked over to the counter and handed it to the owner of the little shop.

"Ye- Did you know that or did you guess?" asked Maria, searching her pockets for some money that she could buy the DVD with.

 _"I may or may not have listened in on some of your conversations through the phone."_

"Conversations outside of the phone as well?" asked Maria with a raised eyebrow as she handed the money to the cashier with a smile gracing her lips. "You can actually do that?"

 _"You're not mad?"_

"You're my teammate," said Maria, ignoring the strange look the cashier gave her and instead simply smiling at the man and grabbing the tiny plastic bag that the owner had placed the DVD in. "I'd rather want you to listen in on my conversations than the government… or some terrorist group."

 _"Glad you see it like that. Most people would just scream at me."_

"So…" said Maria, exiting the shop and reentering the crowd of people. "I'll see you and Bruce in two days?"

 _"Yup."_

* * *

With a smile on her face, she placed the spare key that Steve had given her before she left in the keyhole, turning it before hearing the familiar click of the door opening. Although her upcoming mission was scare to her and caused her some minor panicked feelings inside of her, she was not going to let that ruin her last evening with Steve.

As she entered, the apartment was dimly lit which caused her to furrow her brow. Quickly, she turned on a few lights before taking off her coat and hanging it next to Steve's. With the small bag clutched in her hand, she walked into the living room, finding Steve positioned on the armchair next to the gramophone. She immediately noticed that the drapes were still halfway down which was the reason for the dim light in the apartment.

Something was wrong. That she could tell. Steve was simply sat there, staring out in the nothingness in front of him while seeming to be deep in thought about something, his brow furrowed and his jaw clenched together tightly.

"Hey, Steve," said Maria hesitantly, causing him to look up at her.

"How'd the briefing go?" asked Steve, leaning back in the chair, seeming to relax slightly which caused Maria to relax as well.

"Good. I have a mission tomorrow though so tonight will be our last night together before my next mission. So, I thought we could have a nice, relaxing night where we watch a movie and eat some popcorn - I assume you have that in house," said Maria as she walked over to the kitchen, opening up some cupboards and finding the popcorn almost immediately; "Good! It's a really interesting movie, I think you'll like it. It's about th-"

"Good?" asked Steve, causing Maria to turn around, seeing him standing by the counters a few meters away from her, his brow furrowed.

"Yeah…" she said, his tone causing her to take a step back.

Steve took a deep breath, looking away from Maria. "I just got a call from Fury. He wants me to be on the second team."

"Oh yeah… I think he mentioned that," said Maria, clutching the bag she was still holding tightly in her hand.

She wondered what was actually bothering Steve. Surely, it couldn't be the mission, could it? There was nothing with the mission that could make Steve feel bothered.

"You also know who were going to catch?" asked Steve, looking over at Maria again. His tone was not stern, but it wasn't kind either. She knew he was implying something though she couldn't quite deduce what it was.

"Yeah, I was at the briefing, remember?" asked Maria, trying to use a lighter tone, though Steve didn't seem to even have heard it.

"I don't like it," said Steve, shaking his head. "You know what this man has done to you."

This angered Maria though she swallowed her anger and simply answered; "I know what he did, yes."

"And you still want to go after him?" asked Steve.

She let her gaze stay on the floor for a while before she placed a smile on her lips, avoiding to look over at Steve. "Movie night. Do you wanna order pizza before we start?" she asked, pushing past him to place the small bag of popcorn on the counter close to the microwave, taking in a deep breath as she continuously thought against the anger inside of her. Of course, she was no Hulk, but she also knew what anger could do to her and she did not want that to happen to her right now. Besides, it scared her.

"Don't tell me that this doesn't bother you at all," said Steve.

"Will you stop it?" asked Maria quietly.

"That's Artur, the man who lured you into becoming one of his men. The man who lured you into the life of a murderer," said Steve. "He ruined your life and I don't think you should come close to him."

"I won't be close to him," said Maria, spinning around to face Steve. "I'll just help them to find the place where Artur is hiding out. That's all."

"I still don't like it," said Steve.

"Well then don't!" exclaimed Maria, thrusting her hand against the counter in an angry motion before she widened her eyes, realizing that she had lost the tight control she had had on her emotions. "I'm sorry…"

Steve simply watched her, his eyes not betraying him of what he was thinking. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and looked down at her feet.

"You think I'm safe here, don't you? You think that just because I'm not Hell's Kitchen or in New York, I'm safe. But I'm not. I've been sent to Asia because I had to finish off a man who wouldn't pay his debt to Artur. You think that just because I'm not in New York or just because I'm part of SHIELD, I'll be safe? No, I won't be. And the moment he realizes that you're all after him, he'll come after us _all_. And then no one will be safe. Taking him down and being a part of this will at least give me some kind of satisfaction and some kind of peace. Steve, I need to do this. And, I'm sorry, but you can't stop me from going either."

When Steve didn't reply, Maria looked up at him again, finally seeing some emotions in his eyes. Mostly, they were guilty ones but she also detected some sadness in there.

"Do you understand?" asked Maria calmly, grasping his hands and placing herself in front of him, looking up into his eyes.

For a while, Maria simply watched as Steve searched her eyes for some kind of emotion that he could use to make her change her mind. Though, he never said anything, whether he found something or not.

"I need to get him. I would've gladly agreed to stay here and let someone else take him in. But he's already trapped me with one future and to trap him with one future as well, a future where he's locked up in a cell all alone… that's what I want," said Maria.

"One future?" he asked quietly, looking down at her with confused eyes.

Softly, she placed his hands on her stomach, lifting up her shirt slightly and showing him the scar that she had. It stretched over almost her entire right hip and stopped just a little bit above the hipbone. The skin around the scar was slightly deformed and Maria couldn't describe the hollow feeling inside of her chest as she showed the top of the scar to Steve. It was a part of her that she hadn't showed him yet and she couldn't help the tears that appeared in her eyes.

His cold fingertips traced top of the scar softly and she closed her eyes, wishing that none of that had ever happened.

Clearing her throat of the lump that had appeared in it, she looked back up at Steve who still looked rather confused; "A childless future…"

The confused look immediately disappeared from Steve and as he didn't say anything, Maria took a step away from him and pulled her shirt down again. She turned around just in time for her to hide the tear that fell down her cheek which she immediately wiped away with her sleeve.

"What movie?" asked Steve, clearing his throat slightly as well.

"Saw," she said, her steady voice surprising her. "It's a horror movie."

"Sounds great," said Steve, placing a hand on her back as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He let his hand wander down slightly before it slipped around her waist, his body pressing softly against her back. "I'll order the pizza."

Maria smiled, placing her hand on Steve's and hindering him from walking away. She turned her face to him, leaning back against him.

"Thank you," she said quietly, Steve's other hand cupping her cheek, understanding that she was not just only thanking him for ordering the pizza, but also for understanding her and letting her go on the mission even though he didn't like it.

* * *

It was one of those nights again. It had only happened once before and for some reason, she thought it might have been triggered by the horror movie she and Steve had watched together though she doubted that idea. He was tossing and turning in the bed next to her, waking her up. A soft murmur came from his lips and that was what had made Maria sit up in bed and look over at him.

Quickly, Maria turned the lights on which made it visibly clear that he was having a very vivid nightmare. He was sweaty all over and his face was scrunched up into what looked like fear.

"Steve," said Maria, carefully placing a hand on his arm.

The moment she did, though, he seemed to jump from the touch, causing her to retract her hand from him.

"Steve!" she called a little louder this time. "Wake up!"

His breathing was rapid and it started to look more and more like he was in pain rather than scared. Maria couldn't help but feel frightened. Mostly at the fact that he wasn't awakening since he'd usually wake up if only Maria turned slightly or if a neighbor downstairs closed a door.

Taking a deep breath, Maria prepared herself to the possibility that she might get hit as she placed two hands on his chest before starting to shake him. "Steve, wake up!"

It wasn't working. Instead, he continued to sleep on. It wasn't until Steve cried out a loud; "No!" that Maria decided on a different method to wake him up.

Quickly and efficiently, she slapped him on the cheek quite harshly. It worked, though, and Steve's eyes opened. He looked panicked, his eyes darting all over the room before landing on Maria's worried face.

"You were having a nightmare," said Maria quietly, placing a hand on his cheek. "It's okay now though. You're awake. None of it was real."

Maria's heart hurt at the look Steve gave her. It was filled with both regret and pure fear. For some reason, it reminded her a lot of a frightened young boy and the look only made her place her other hand on his other cheek, brushing her thumbs over his cheekbones. When his eyes slowly filled with tears, causing him to look away probably in shame, Maria positioned herself so that his head was resting on her lap, a pillow underneath his head to make it a little more comfortable for him. Although it wasn't a very flattering angle that he was looking up at of her, Maria didn't care. At the moment, all she cared about was to make him feel alright again. To make him realize that he was safe and not out there in the war anymore.

With slow movements, she brushed her fingers through his hair, ignoring the sweat. She didn't stop until Steve once again looked up at her. She smiled at him, a sympathetic smile and a smile that she hoped would show to him that she was there for him. That she understood him.

"It was real…" said Steve quietly. "It happened… once."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," said Maria quietly. She removed her fingers from his hair and placed one hand against his cheek while she let the other one rest on his shoulder.

"I woke you up," said Steve, clearing his throat slightly. "I think I owe you an explanation."

"You had a nightmare. It happens. Especially after everything you've been through," said Maria.

"The last time… The last time it was – um – Bucky," said Steve, earning a nod from Maria.

She remembered that night very clearly. It had been awful to see Steve go through that nightmare and no matter what Maria did, she could not wake him up back then either. She hadn't thought of the slap-idea then and so, she had to let him go through it until he woke up himself. It had been awful and he hadn't talked about it until the very next morning.

"This time it was a different memory… One that I hadn't thought much about for quite some time," said Steve, looking up into the ceiling. "It was during the winter of 1944. Me and my team were going through a large forest, trying to find some German soldiers who we suspected were working for Hydra. It was out in the woods near the eastern border of the Soviet Union. There was snow everywhere… on the trees and on the ground… made it almost impossible to walk there but we pushed through. We had to find those soldiers since they could've been responsible for a lot of deaths… we found this… lodge out there. There were clear signs of that a fight had been going on… A Soviet tank was there though it was coated in a thick layer of snow. So, the fight had happened a couple days ago before the previous snow had fallen. There were these… heaps of snow in front of the lodge. I didn't really think twice of it before Dugan placed a hand on my shoulder, hindering me from walking over one of these heaps. He pushed away the snow and revealed bo- bodies. Five of them. Two of which were Russian soldiers who probably had come with the tank. Those soldiers had been stabbed while the civilians had been… well brutally murdered. We never found out whether it was the Russians or the Germans that had killed that family. Either way, it was horrible.

"Inside, there was clear evidence of someone having stayed there. The fireplace had been lit only a few hours ago and we thought that maybe the German soldiers we were after were the people that had lit the fire. Our thoughts were true but… we never thought that we'd ever have to see..." Steve stopped talking at this point, a tear having rolled down his cheek which Maria quickly wiped away.

She shushed him, almost fearing what else there was that Steve had gone through that day. After all, he didn't seem to have come to the worst part of the story.

"The family had had two children, Maria," said Steve, looking into her eyes. "They were just sitting there, propped up against the wall, holding each other. They looked too pale for any child… and they didn't move-"

"Steve, don't… you don't have to go through this again," said Maria, caressing his cheek slowly.

He simply stared into her eyes before he slowly raised his hand. Maria quickly grabbed it and squeezed it, bending down to his forehead and placing a light kiss to it.

"It's okay," said Maria. "It's never going to happen again. You're never going to have to see that again."

"I love you," said Steve, the words making Maria freeze slightly. She smiled warmly down at him as the words sunk down and he slowly mirrored the smile although it was hard for him to do so at the moment.

"I love you too," said Maria, leaning back against the wall. "Now; sleep."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment about what you think of the story! I appreciate it a lot!**


	6. Chapter 6, The Plan

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 6~  
The Plan  
**

The taxi stopped outside of a five star hotel in the center of Hell's Kitchen. Quickly, Miller payed the driver before stepping out of the cab, holding the door open for Maria and Clint to exit as well. In Clint's hands, two suitcases filled with clothes and gear rested and Miller quickly took one of them from Clint, offering some help. The three of them were dressed in civilian clothes, though no clothes that they would normally choose to wear themselves. Instead, they had all gotten new identities which they were now using. Clint and Miller were to be brothers while Maria was Clint's fiancé of two years. They were all on a trip through New York together - according to the papers - and had chosen this hotel to stay at for a few nights before moving on to Harlem. It all sounded very civilian and innocent, though the actual stories of the characters they were playing was a little less innocent. They were all owners of a company that sold drugs and weapons. It was a story which they went with in case they would have to pretend to be criminals in front of some of Artur's thugs. Because they were the owners of a company that was supposed to run quite smoothly, giving them a lot of money, Maria had to wear a grey jumpsuit with black high heels underneath to at least look a little richer than she was. On the bridge of her nose, a pair of sunglasses were resting, shielding her eyes from both the sun and those who knew who she actually was even though those were few. Clint closed the car door behind her and the cab sped off again, blending in with the rest of the cars that passed by almost immediately.

"We have about two hours until sunset," said Clint quietly as he leaned in towards her ear, pretending like he was saying something sweet to her, faking a smile which Maria did as well, giggling as she said:

"I know."

"Come on," said Miller, leading the two inside.

Maria grabbed a hold of Clint's arm, linking hers with his as Miller walked towards the receptionist; a tall, blonde woman with a warm smile. Clint placed the bag on the ground, carefully as his bow and arrows were packed in there, before he placed his hand on top of Maria's, smiling over at her as she rested her cheek against his shoulder. Although it was all an act, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with all of this. Each time she looked over at her dear friend Clint, holding her arm like a true gentleman and smiling a loving, though still faked, smile at her, she couldn't help but wish it was Steve holding her arm, smiling at her like that. That it was Steve who had given her the silver ring with the huge diamond she wore around her ring finger and that none of it was fake. Therefore, she couldn't help but sigh slightly as Miller turned towards the two of them, showing them two pairs of cardkeys with a huge grin.

* * *

The moment the door closed behind them, all three agents dropped the act and started to unpack their gear. While Charles and Clint unpacked the things that SHIELD had brought with them in the bags, Maria walked over to the huge plant in front of the window.

 _When you enter the hotel room, look for something that looks out of place. That's where you'll find a little gift I made for you all._

Martin's voice echoed in her mind as she looked at the dead plant. Indeed, this plant was what did not fit in with the rest of the hotel room. Everything looked perfect. There wasn't a single thing wrong in the hotel room, all surfaces were as clean as they could be and the two beds, one queen sized and one single who were located in one room each, were perfectly made. The sheets didn't even have a single crease in them nor did the white color of the sheets seem even slightly discolored. There were small chocolates placed on the pillows and Maria had already stolen all three of them and eaten them for herself while she was scavenging the hotel room to see if there was anything out of place. The plant in front of the large windows in the sitting area, was dead and some of the leaves had fallen down on the floor next to it.

She inspected it, wondering how Martin had managed to hide it in there… in fact, she also wondered how he had gotten into the room in the first place since she was sure that he was back in Washington and not in Hell's Kitchen. The thought hurt her head as the travel to Hell's Kitchen had been long and tiring, so she simply let it go, telling herself she had to ask Martin that someday. Quickly, she lifted the large, and surprisingly heavy, plant from the floor. Though she found nothing underneath of it. With a sigh, she was about to place the plant back on the floor when her eyes caught something in the reflection of the mirror. On the other side of the pot that the plant was placed in, a little note existed. She grabbed it before setting the plant down.

 _Knock three times._

Maria rolled her eyes. What was that supposed to mean?, she thought. Couldn't he just have said where it was?

"What are you doing to that plant?" asked Charles as he entered the room she was currently in.

"Martin said he had something for us but… he hid it too well," said Maria, standing up and showing him the piece of paper.

"Knock three times… Odd," said Charles before handing her the earpiece for the mission. It was a see through one and it was quite small which was perfect as it hid them well enough for no one to see them unless they were truly looking for the earpieces. Not to mention the fact that the signal was stronger on those than on the normal ones which meant that they could move freely around the entire city without the signal breaking. "Ask him."

Maria took the note from Charles' hands again as she placed the earpiece into her right ear, watching Charles walk back into the bedroom where the single bed was placed.

"Martin?" asked Maria, turning on her earpiece.

 _"Ah! Good, you're all online. I have no visual though. What's taking so long?"_

"Visual? What?" asked Maria.

 _"Did you find my gift?"_

"What, the dead plant?" asked Maria sarcastically before crouching down in front of it again. "I don't get it."

 _"I hoped you'd've seen some spy movies…"_

"Huh?"

 _"You know. Secret doors underneath the floor."_

Maria shifted the plant a few centimeters to the left, staring down at the floor which was made out of a very shiny wood. Although, at closer inspection, she saw a small square where the plant had been standing that was not as shiny as the rest of the floor. With hesitant movements, she knocked three times on the wood that wasn't as shiny, jumping slightly as the square opened up like a small hatch, revealing a small box that looked like it contained jewelry.

"Oh, you shouldn't have," said Maria jokingly.

 _"It's lenses. You know, for your eyes."_

"I can see without glasses, Martin," said Maria before she opened the box, revealing three pairs of contact lenses. "And so can Barton and Miller."

 _"Oh, they're made out of glass. They're not for that purpose."_

Quickly, she moved to the mirror that was placed next to the door, swiftly placing the lenses into her eyes although it felt odd and it was hard to get the first one in.

"I've put them on now," said Maria, blinking a couple of times.

 _"Yes, I've got visual. Let's see… Oh, nice clothes."_

Maria rolled her eyes, giving Martin an amused look through the mirror, understanding that he could see her reflection in the mirror. She gestured towards the box with the other lenses; "I'll give these to the others."

* * *

"Usually, this was where he had a couple of men standing; his dealers. They were handpicked by Artur though usually they were the newbies," informed Maria as the three agents turned into the alley that she spoke about. "I don't know if he's changed alley or not-"

"Most likely he has," said Miller, the darkness of the alley shielding his eyes from her as he walked too far away from her, though she couldn't help but feel like his tone felt accusing. Not towards her, but towards Artur. "After all, you got away with all this intel. If he was smart, he'd change his M.O."

Maria nodded slightly, looking away from Miller who sped up slightly to walk in front of Clint and Charles.

Suddenly, Charles stopped, raising his hand in a gesture for them to stop as well. There, further down the alley with their backs towards them, three men stood. Two of them were standing with their backs towards the agents while the third man stood with his face towards them, though he was looking at the other men. He seemed to be rather panicked as he talked quickly, continuously showing the other two men his wallet and continuously brushing his hand through his hair.

"We need a plan," said Charles, turning to the other two.

"We walk up and tell them about us and that we want to make a deal with the man himself," said Clint.

"To earn more money and maybe start something," added Maria.

Charles nodded, gesturing to Clint and Maria to walk firstly. Grabbing her arm, Clint linked their arms with each other.

"Look pretty and innocent," whispered Clint to her.

"I always look pretty and innocent," whispered Maria back as the third man briskly walked past them, sweat dripped down his forehead and his eyes darted from the roof to the floor.

Maria couldn't help but wonder what this man had done. Had he forgotten to pay Artur or did he not have enough money to pay him at all. Either way, he was a dead man walking if he didn't get the money soon. Especially if he had no debt though needed more drugs for his addiction. The drug was special and it didn't just let go of one after you'd stopped taking it. It never leaves your system which was the way Artur got his money. There was no way to stop taking the drugs and if one waited long enough with the next shot, you'd die.

"What do we have here?" asked one of the men, a smug look on his face as he inspected Maria from top to toe.

"We're not interested in your drugs," said Clint immediately, causing both men to glare at him.

"Then what do you want?" asked the first man again, his hand slowly moving up to his belt, most likely to be prepared to shoot them with the gun he had hidden away there.

"We want to talk to whoever is your boss," said Clint. "We want to become… partners."

"These jewelry don't pay for themselves," said Maria, raising an eyebrow as she fiddled with the diamond necklace she wore around her neck, showing off her ring at the same time.

The two men shared a look. "Our boss is a very… busy man."

"I'm sure he has time for _us_ ," said Maria with a sharp tone to her voice before either Clint or Charles could talk again.

Although the deal had been that she wouldn't get too involved in this, she couldn't help but feel the emotions and the experience from her previous life take over. She glared at the two men, seeing how their eyes flickered down to the floor, a sign that these two men indeed were newbies.

"If he doesn't want to talk to us, I'm sure we can take our money and company to someone else more interested, right darling?" said Maria, looking up at Clint who nodded his head, mirroring the strong and determined look on her face.

"Our boss has a little… get-together tomorrow with his current business partners," said the second man, earning a look from the other one. "If you come, I'm sure that we can arrange a meeting with him."

"Him? No name?" asked Charles, crossing his arms over his chest. "We don't like to do business with a man with no name."

Again, the two men looked at each other before nodding their heads; "Artur. Artur Kuznetsov."

* * *

 _"The two men are called Robert and Tim Hopkins. Brothers who recently lost their parents in a car crash; two months ago actually. After that, the two brothers kind off disappeared. They both quit their jobs and sold their homes though there's no record of any of them buying a new home anywhere… Two weeks ago, they were both a part of a robbery in the south of Hell's Kitchen… turns out they threatened to kill the owner of a jewelry shop before grabbing some pretty valuable diamonds. Luckily, the owner had managed to press the silent alarm but the police arrived too late. Their faces were all over the news thanks to the security cameras which they obviously hadn't thought about."_

"Why a jewelry store?" asked Clint, looking at Maria as he asked this.

In all three agents' hands, a cold beer was resting. They were sitting in the sitting room of the hotel room again, both men having taken off their suits and put on their pajamas already while Maria had simply opened up a few buttons of her one-piece suit and removed the jewelry she had worn. The high heels had been thrown off of her feet the moment she entered the hotel room. Now, she was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, facing Clint and Charles who were sitting on the couch.

"Probably to train them," said Maria. "You have to prove to Artur that you indeed can do some criminal things before he actually trusts you with a job in his company."

"You did it as well?" asked Charles, taking a sip from his beer.

"Yeah," replied Maria, looking down at the floor. "I did some breaking and entering in the beginning. Never really threatened anyone until Artur gave me a job…"

"This ball-thing that he has tomorrow," started Clint. "What's that all about?"

"He's just keeping up appearances," shrugged Maria, taking a sip from her beer. "I reckon that the people he has invited are people that are important for his company to keep on working. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if he even invited some of the police department of Hell's Kitchen, just to at least have some cops on his side. In case someone gets arrested, it's good to have someone on the inside of the police department as well."

"Great," said Clint. "Can't believe how corrupt this city is to actually have even the police on a criminal's side."

Maria immediately thought back to Matt, thinking about the various criminal's that the two of them had taken down in Hell's Kitchen throughout the years without ever being seen or ever leaving proof of the fact that it was actually them that had taken the thugs down. It made her smile softly, reminding her that she _had_ to call Matt after her mission. Her smile faded as she started to panic slightly at the fact that she hadn't talked to him since the Battle of New York where Matt had called her in the middle of the battle, sounding scared and worried about her. He most likely thought that she was dead.

Actually, maybe a visit was what he needed.

* * *

 **Next update will happen this weekend! Thought I'd update twice this week since I don't have as much homework to do as I usually have! :)**

 **Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment about what you think of the story! I appreciate it a lot!**


	7. Chapter 7, Can't Hold Me Back

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 7~  
Can't Hold Me Back  
**

With worry latched onto her heart, she paced back and forth in the sitting area of the hotel room. She was sure that if someone saw her from the other, high buildings surrounding the hotel, she would look like some kind of bored zoo-animal that wants to get out of their cage and live their life the way they want to. In fact, Maria couldn't help but feel a little like that as well. Clint and Charles were now at the masquerade and soon, they'd plant the device that would allow Martin to see the entire schematics of the building from his place in Washington so that he could lead the second team into the building to arrest Artur and save Clint and Charles. She felt useless and wanted to be there with Clint and Charles. With a sigh, she sat down on the couch, running a hand through her hair. With all the things that had been happening lately, Maria couldn't stop the memories from coming back to her. The memories of when she first met Artur and the memories of all the things she had done. It was all rushing back to her and the angst she felt because of the bad choices she had made in her life caused her hands to start shaking.

 _"Where are we going?" asked Maria, her arm linked with the strange man she had met only yesterday when she was roaming the streets of Hell's Kitchen, trying to find a job somewhere so that she could pay the rent of her grandmother's apartment. "The queue is there."_

 _He had decided to take her to a fancy restaurant that Maria knew was expensive enough for her to not even be able to pay for one drink. However, instead of standing in the queue that lead inside – apparently there were a lot of people that wanted a table though there wasn't enough room for everyone – they walked past the queue to the back of the building._

 _Artur tapped his knuckle three times against the metal door around the back, ignoring her questions of what they were doing there and instead holding a tighter grip on her arm. When the door opened, one of the kitchen staff showed his face. The moment his eyes landed on Artur, they widened and a smile appeared on his lips. Maria immediately saw how fake and panicked the smile was, though she kept her mouth shut about it._

 _"Kuznetsov, please, come in," said the man, opening the door for them as Artur lead them inside._

 _With confident steps, Artur walked through the busy kitchen, Maria looking around at the massive kitchen with wide and amazed eyes. She was confused as to why they were entering this way, though the tight grip that Artur had on her arm made her feel confident enough to go with him without protesting. Her eyes took in the fancy food they were preparing and realized that she hadn't tasted nor even knew the name of half of the food she saw there._

 _Once they exited the kitchen, a man in a suit walked up to them and showed them both to a table that was placed in the back of the restaurant, close to the large aquarium filled with lobsters and tiny fishes with amazing blue and yellow colors. With the grace and confidence of a gentleman, Artur pulled out her chair for her before sitting down himself. As she took in the decorations and the fancy dressed people around her, she couldn't help but think that the both of them were underdressed for this restaurant, not to mention the fact that she did not feel like she belonged in there at all. The both of them were wearing dark clothes; jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket which the both of them hadn't taken off when sitting themselves down._

 _The waiter poured them both a glass of red wine, Artur first having tasted it before approving of it. It was then that Maria turned to her date with wide eyes._

 _"I don't belong here," said Maria, earning a look from Artur._

 _"Neither do I," he simply responded._

 _He sat there with a nonchalant stance, watching her every move and expression with interested eyes._

 _"We're not dressed properly," she tried again._

 _"Who cares?" he asked simply, smirking at her dumbfounded look._

 _"Will they not throw us out?" she asked quietly, leaning forwards._

 _"Why? I paid them a couple of dollars," said Artur. "Plus, they know me."_

 _Maria simply stared at the man before her. Who had she chosen to go on a date with? And why? After all, he seemed to be far too old for her, though at the same time he seemed to not be a creep. Creeps weren't gentlemen, right?_

 _"What do you do for a living?" asked Maria, trying to mirror his way of sitting nonchalantly like he owned the place._

 _"It's complicated, my dear," he said, his Russian accent making his last words sound rather hot, causing her to feel a little flustered._

 _"I can handle complicated things," said Maria, Artur still watching her intently._

 _"You can?" he simply asked._

 _"Stop doing that."_

 _"Do what?"_

 _"That. I'm here with you and if you don't tell me something about yourself, I'll scream," said Maria with a huff._

 _"Alright," he said, leaning forwards in his chair with amusement playing in his eyes. "I am the owner of a very fortunate company that has taken over the entire black market here in Hell's Kitchen. I plan on expanding this year, actually."_

 _Maria felt scared as he said 'black market' realizing what he was and why he could walk in like he owned the place. In fact, she felt more scared of the fact that people like that could still exist in the modern world than the fact that he was sitting opposite of her. After all, he had asked her out for a reason. If he wanted her dead, he could have simply killed her on the street. Why go through all of this effort if he only wanted her dead?_

 _"You understand what I am saying, don't you?" he asked, leaning back in his chair again, cocking his head to the side. "Does that scare you?"_

 _"Yes," she simply said with a monotone voice._

 _"Yet you are still here," he said, gesturing to her chair._

 _"If I run. You might kill me," she said._

 _"Clever girl," he said with a smirk before shaking his head. "But I do not want you dead."_

 _Maria raised an eyebrow._

 _"Why ask you out in that case?" he asked. "You are far too beautiful to kill, my dear."_

With her daggers strapped to her leg, a glittery mask placed over her eyes and a long red dress on that revealed her back, she walked towards the door of the hotel room. Placing her hand on the doorknob, she sighed, preparing herself for the looks and the scolding she was going to get from the rest of the team; especially Steve.

 _"Maria, don't."_

Determination took over her heart and, ignoring Martin's words, she opened the door and walked outside.

* * *

Getting inside had been easy. After all, her fake name was on the list thanks to both Martin and their invitation. Finding the others was something that would prove a little harder. The party was held inside of a large building, the interior white and marble clad. At the far end of the room, a large bar existed where most people were spending their night while to the left, a large stage existed where there currently was an orchestra playing music. In the middle of the room, the dance floor existed and a lot of people were dancing there. Maria couldn't help but feel a little scared about the fact that she was once again in a room filled with what she supposed were all criminals. It was unnerving especially since she knew that most of these people probably would recognize her had it not been for the mask. She herself couldn't see any faces either which she was happy about since she did not want to recognize anyone that she had either tried to kill or worked with.

Her eyes inspected the guards that were placed on the catwalk high up in the air near the ceiling. She saw them walking around there, wearing dark clothes and masks. They were most certainly Artur's men and from the looks of it, he still had guards placed everywhere to keep a close look on the guests. Once, Maria had been up there as well, guarding parties that Artur hosted. Though that was in the beginning of her career with Artur. In the end, she had been by his side and charmed people with fake smiles, dancing with them or allowing them to pay her drinks. The amount of deals she had managed to see through thanks to dazzling smiles and inappropriate looks still bewildered her. After all, her beauty wasn't something she would normally see in the mirror. In fact, she doubted she actually looked much different from the rest of the women. No, in the mirror, she only saw the faults and the mistakes she had made throughout her life.

Noticing that one of the guards up there was staring down at her, or at least somewhere close to her, she looked away from the ceiling and made her way towards the toilets. Outside, a couple of men were standing in silence, looking as bored as they could possibly get. Most likely, they were waiting for their dates who had gone to make sure that their makeup still looked intact since neither of them seemed to talk to each other nor did they stand close to the men's toilet. She brushed past them ignoring the looks the men gave her, and entered the women's bathroom. Indeed, women had piled up in there. Almost none of them were actually inside the stalls where the toilets were but instead they stood by the mirrors, borrowing each other's makeup and fussing with their hair. Maria simply walked past them and entered the last stall, locking the door behind her. With a sigh, she sat down on the toilet and pressed a finger to her earpiece.

"Martin?" she said quietly.

 _"You should not be there. Go back. Now."_

"No," she said. "I'm here now so, where are the others? Have they found the entrance yet?"

With a sigh, Martin replied: _"No. They're standing by the bar trying to figure out how to enter."_

"Okay, thanks."

 _"I'm telling them that you're here."_

"Fine," she said quietly before standing up again, flushing the toilet to make it seem like she had actually used it.

Before walking outside of the stall, she double-checked that her daggers were still there. Almost all women had left by now and only three women still stood before the mirrors. They all stared at her through the reflection of the mirror. Not in a kind way, but in a way that told Maria that she had interrupted something that they were talking about and that they wanted her to leave. Ignoring their looks, Maria walked up to the sink that was placed next to the three women and started to wash her hands. She noticed the masks they had been wearing laying on the sink next to hers and she quickly, before they noticed it, looked up at their faces, feeling relieved that she didn't recognize either of them from her previous life. Drying her hands quickly, she exited the bathroom and noticed three men still standing there, hands in pockets and hopeful eyes looking at the door. When they saw her exit, they looked away with a roll of their eyes and Maria couldn't help but smirk slightly at the three men who must have been waiting for quite some time already now.

Pushing through the dancing crowd, she managed to make her way to the bar, searching with her eyes for the two men that she worked with. When she saw them, she smiled slightly before walking over to them. Charles was the first one to notice her and he didn't look all that amused or happy about the fact that she was there. Clint turned around to look at her, though he didn't show the same emotions as Charles. Although they were there, they seemed to be slightly less than Charles'.

"What are you doing here?" Charles hissed the moment she arrived close to them.

"I'm helping," she said simply.

"No. You're jeopardizing this entire mission," he hissed back.

Maria took a step away from him, surprised at his tone and his words. In fact, if she was there with them, she'd be able to get them inside more easily since she knew more of Artur's security techniques than the two of them.

"Miller," warned Clint. "Maria can help. Besides, she's here now. Can't send her back."

Maria stared at Charles as he looked away from the two of them, still not looking all too pleased with any of this.

"I supposed you've seen the guards up there," said Maria, silently gesturing towards the ceiling without looking up.

Both Clint and Charles nodded their head.

"Well, we're gonna use them," said Maria. "Those men up there are going to be our way of getting caught. They'll see us enter and we'll have at least two minutes to get as far down as possible."

"Down?" asked Miller.

"Artur doesn't approve of being high above ground. He feels safer being underground. He used to build extra tunnels down in the sewers that connected his buildings with his base. Meaning there will be stairs behind…" Maria looked around at the walls, seeing a guard positioned by a door not too far away from them; "that door."

Barton and Miller looked at the door and the guard, nodding their heads.

"We figured that's the door as well," said Clint, quietly, a couple of people walking past them. "We'll need a distraction to get past the guard though."

Maria's eyes landed on the people that had walked past them and an idea popped up in her mind as she saw that it was the three women from the bathroom along with their dates. Again, the men looked bored and she figured that it was the three women who were the ones that had been invited to the masquerade.

"I have an idea," said Maria, linking her arm with Clint's, going back into character again. "Follow my lead."

She walked with Clint and Charles a little closer to the guard, grabbing a glass of champagne from one of the butlers' trails as she did this. Quickly and without flinching, she drank the champagne whole before quickly throwing it at the feet of the three women who immediately jumped and screamed. Of course, it looked as though one of them had dropped the glass and so, no one really paid a lot of attention to it. Though, the guard who as well had jumped at the sound of the glass shattering, rolled his eyes and walked over to the three women. Most likely to tell them to calm down and help them to get someone to clean it up. Though Maria didn't care of where he was going since this was their chance of getting inside.

Quickly, without any of the guests noticing, the three of them slipped through the door. The guards up in the ceiling, however, immediately called their boss when they saw the three agents enter the door, two of them starting the descent down the ladder to pursue the three agents.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment about what you think of the story! I appreciate it a lot!**


	8. Chapter 8, According To Plan

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 8~  
According To Plan  
**

All three agents were panting as they quickly ran down the, seemingly, never ending spiral staircase that would take them down to wherever Artur had his base down in the sewers. Behind them, shouts from guards who continuously came closer and closer to them were heard though they couldn't stop yet. They had to come even further down before they could drop the small device that Miller was currently holding in his hand.

 _"Further down! Keep going!"_

Suddenly, lights from torches were seen a couple levels down from them and soon, they could hear the guards that were nearing their destination from in front of them. Although it was all going according to plan since they were supposed to be caught, Maria couldn't help but feel a rush of adrenaline run through her veins as her survival instincts kicked in, telling her to get the hell away from there. She hated the feeling of someone chasing her and would much more prefer to be the one chasing someone.

Clint, who was running in front of Maria, suddenly came to a halt in the stairs, turning around. They had to act as though they weren't supposed to be caught though Maria herself felt the actual fear seeping into her heart which caused her to widen her eyes at him.

"What are you doing!?" she spat at Clint, placing her hands on his chest, prepared to push him to the side and continue running on her own when suddenly, her mind caught up with the situation, reminding her that they were on a mission still.

"Miller," said Clint simply, ignoring Maria's panicked exclaim.

The third agent nodded his head from behind Maria, dropping the small device onto the floor.

 _"Okay, I'll just have to work with this then."_

The moment Martin had said this, thugs appeared on both sides of the three agents, pointing their guns at them and screaming at them to drop to their knees. All three agents quickly raised their hands in the air before slowly dropping down to their knees, although it was hard to do since they were standing on narrow stairs.

"Hands behind your head! Get down on your knees, now!"

Quickly, their hands were all cuffed behind their backs and they were being led down the stairs. It wasn't very far down to the sewers which relieved the agents, knowing Martin could now get a good look of the entire building. However, none of the agents had time to actually take in their new surroundings since bags were thrust over their heads the moment they didn't have to watch their steps anymore. Luckily, they were fabric bags and air could seep through the stitches so they weren't meant to suffocate either of them. Instead, they were meant to keep something hidden from them. Rough hands grabbed Maria's arms, pushing her forwards into a walk. The floor she walked on was uneven though the rough hands held her on her feet whenever she tripped.

It probably felt further than it was to arrive to wherever the thugs wanted to take them and soon, Maria felt more hands start to search her to see if she had any weapons on her. Of course, they found the daggers strapped to her leg and they immediately took it from her. Quickly, they pushed her down on her knees, letting go of her and seeming to disappear. She frantically tried to see something through the stitches, though it was impossible. Breathing was getting harder as the small amount of air that seeped through the fabric was not enough for her to be able to get enough oxygen in her system and she was already feeling a little lightheaded. The thugs that had grabbed them were all talking in Russian about her and her fellow agents – since she had worked with Russians most of her teenage life, she knew the language a little bit by now – and because of her being positioned in the middle of the room, the voices seemed to come from everywhere around her.

The squeaking of a door opening was heard behind her and suddenly, all the voices died down. Immediately, Maria knew who it was that had entered the room. The tense atmosphere around her made it all very clear and it reminded her of her time as one of those thugs. The moment _he_ entered the room, one was supposed to be quiet while working unless he asked you something. The fact that he was once again in the same room as her awoke emotions in herself that almost scared her. Most of these emotions, she recognized as anger and hatred. Though those were emotions that she had promised herself to never feel again. Anger and hatred had caused her pain in her life that she never wanted to experience again and for herself to feel those feelings only made her fear that she would cause that pain to someone else.

"I suppose you expected me to host a party without being prepared of the attention it would give me, aye?" said a familiar voice with a thick Russian accent that turned each "s" into a "z" and oddly enough, this voice still seemed to enlighten a fire inside of Maria. That very fire was what made her regret that she had disobeyed Fury's plan. "Let's see if I've got this right… Agent Clint Barton otherwise known as Hawkeye from the _Avengers_."

"Go to hell," Clint's voice said from Maria's right before the sound of a fist colliding with ones jaw was heard accompanied with a grunt from Clint.

"Tut, tut," said Artur. "That's not very nice to say to the man holding a knife to your friend's throat."

Maria's heartbeat started to beat faster. If she couldn't feel the knife to her throat, Charles was the friend Artur was talking about since he was the only other person that had come with her and Barton.

"And… Agent Charles Miller," continued Artur. "How's the family – ah! Don't even try it…"

Her nostrils flared when she felt someone grip the bag that was around her head, the light hitting her eyes like a bat hitting a baseball. As she looked down at the darker floor - seeing how moist it was as they were basically down in the sewers at the moment - someone immediately grabbed her chin, a cool piece of metal pressing against her throat. Artur's grip on her chin forced her to look up at him, her slightly panicked eyes narrowing as she saw his face again. She couldn't help but smirk slightly when she saw the long scar that was on his cheek; a scar she had put on him the day she left. Though he had given her a scar as well.

"Well, well… Agent Maria Dalton," said Artur, a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he sat there, crouched in front of her with a knife held against her throat, something she knew he had wanted to do since the day she left him.

He was now in his early forties, if Maria wasn't mistaking, though during the past four years that she had been away from him, he had barely aged at all. The only thing that was different was his left eye that seemed to have not approved of the cut she had provided his left cheek with. Only under that eye were there dark bags.

"Or is it agent? Maybe it's Avenger now, hm?" asked Artur, his smirk fading as his grip tightened, taking off the mask she wore. "You haven't aged a day…"

"You have," lied Maria through gritted teeth.

Artur stared at her for a while, seeming to contemplate how to react to her comment though choosing to ignore it in the end.

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find the man that ordered for a bullet to go through her skull," replied Clint.

When Artur finally let go of Maria and shifted over to Clint, she could turn her head to look at her fellow agents. While Clint stared at Artur with a monotone look on his face, Charles was staring at the ground with a strange look on his face. Exactly what that look meant, she didn't know. All around them, guards were placed with guns in their hands, pointed towards them. Both female and men though they were all clad in masks. Different kind of masks, though. Some were rabbits, some were monkeys and some were clowns. Maria remembered this from her days under Artur's command; no face was allowed to be showed to the people that they were going to _kill_.

"And how did you figure out that it was me?" asked Artur quietly.

Silence filled the room after his question and his face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Fine," said Artur.

 _"Team two will be there in ten… nine…"_

All three agents heard the voice through their earpiece.

"I suppose you can't trust people to do your dirty work anymore," said Artur as he placed his knife back in his belt before taking out a gun. "The only thing that'll kill you is a bullet that stays in the brain or that goes through the heart…" he whispered, causing Maria to look up at him with wide and confused eyes as he pointed his gun at her. "See this gun? Special made by a special man. As soon as it enters your pretty little head, it'll clutch itself onto whatever tissue it finds and _stay there_. Ending you forever."

He removed the safety of the gun with a click though didn't shoot. One of his men placed a mask over his face, a mask that Maria remembered well. It was shaped like a sort of ghoul and only Artur himself wore such a mask.

 _"Maria, hold on. They're here."_

"Go on then," said Maria, narrowing her eyes as she saw that he was still not shooting her.

When the door was suddenly thrust open, all guards in the room pointed their guns at the people entering before shooting as much as they could. However, the bullets ricocheted back to them, hitting something metal that most certainly guided the bullets back to the people that were shooting. One after one, they fell down to the floor, groaning from the bullet either hitting them in the leg or somewhere else, though never killing them. When one of the bullets hit Artur in the leg, he fell down in front of the three agents, cursing loudly in Russian before staying there.

Multiple SHIELD agents started the process of arresting the guards while Natasha and Steve came into view of the three agents. Steve kicked the gun away from Artur's hand before looking down at him with serious eyes.

"Don't threaten her ever again," said Steve before Natasha kicked him in the head, causing him to fall into unconsciousness.

While Natasha helped Clint and Charles out of the ropes, Steve helped Maria to stand up, removing the ropes from her hands quickly before embracing her, his shield resting on his back already.

"You couldn't have come a couple minutes earlier?" asked Maria quietly.

"Sorry," said Steve, breaking the hug to look at her. "Couldn't enter the building without a mask on according to the guards. What with the masquerade going on up there and all."

A smirk played on his lips to which Maria simply rolled her eyes. "Convenient, don't you think?"

"Be glad. They might've shot you otherwise," said Steve, growing serious again before pressing a light kiss against her forehead, his hand cupping her cheek. "At least you're alright."

"You're not mad?" asked Maria, raising an eyebrow.

"No," he said, glancing at Natasha who gave him a look before continuing to cuff Artur. "I understand that you needed to do this. To be a part of this. After all… It's Artur."

Maria nodded her head, glancing between Natasha and Steve for a while until it clicked that Natasha most likely had told Steve off about either worrying or commenting on the fact that Maria shouldn't have to do this.

Quickly, Maria stood up and placed a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks," she said, glancing at Natasha once who simply nodded her head at her.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment about what you think of the story! I appreciate it a lot!**


	9. Chapter 9, Nightmares

**A/N: The last chapter was so short and most of it was from the very first chapter so, here is another chapter for you all to enjoy (I hope!) :)**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 9~  
Nightmares  
**

"You sure about this?" asked Steve, standing a couple feet away from the jet that held Artur himself as well as his thugs – all with their hands cuffed. Clint and Natasha were standing in the entrance, watching them while Rumlow and Miller boarded with the last two thugs.

"I need to go see Tony," said Maria.

"I can come with you, you know. You don't have to do that alone," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking at her softly, almost pleadingly.

"I'm sorry… But I have to do this alone. Just this one time. Besides, all I have to do is give some blood," said Maria, her hands grasping his from her shoulders and placing them on her waist before she threw her arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly to her. "Not very interesting for you to watch."

"I just want to be there for you," said Steve quietly, his arms holding her tightly to him as he let his chin rest on her shoulder. "Like you are for me."

Maria knew what he meant. After all, she had helped him a lot with dealing with nightmares and adapting to the new world. Although it might not have been as much as she had wanted since she had been away for at least six months because of her training, she had still been there for him whenever she could the past couple of days as well as the time before her training had even started. Apparently, that had been enough for him as he seemed quite keen on wanting to be there for her. Maria wanted so badly to say yes and simply let him go with her so she wouldn't have to deal with the feelings she felt after having faced Artur again on her own. Not to mention the fact that there might be something odd about her that Tony could find. Though at the same time, she knew that Steve had a mission waiting for him back in Washington and that he was needed as Captain America.

"When I come back," she started, looking up at him though not letting go of him. "I will open up about everything."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Everything?"

"All the things I've done. All the things I feel. And everything that I have ever had to deal with."

Steve brushed a couple of stray hairs away from her face.

"I bet you're looking forwards to that," said Maria with a snort.

"Actually, I am," said Steve, placing a kiss to her forehead. "You're finally letting me in."

"Hey," said Maria, pointing a finger at him to which he smirked. "I've let you in. I've just not told you everything."

Steve smiled, placing a kiss to her cheek this time. "Okay. We have a deal. When I return from the mission, you better be home."

"I'll try," said Maria, smiling.

"You have somewhere to stay for the night?" asked Steve, looking up at the dark sky above them.

"I think I have an idea of where I can crash for the night," said Maria, smiling widely as Steve finally placed a kiss to her lips.

It wasn't a quick one, but a lingering one. A goodbye kiss.

"I love you," said Steve quietly, making Maria smile widely, placing another kiss to his lips.

"I love you too."

* * *

The building was placed in the middle of Hell's Kitchen and had it not been for the small sign placed outside of the building, telling the passing by people that there was a law-firm inside on the second floor, Maria wouldn't have found the correct building.

Securing her hoody that was draped over her hair in order to not make it wet from the rain that was pouring down on the town heavily, she jogged inside, water dripping down her face as she wiped her shoes on the dark carpet that was laid out in the hallway. There was an eerie sort of smell hanging in the hallway and she didn't quite get the impression that she was on her way to a law-firm though that didn't surprise her. After all, neither Matt nor Foggy did have the money to rent a more expensive and professional looking premises so obviously they'd simply gone for the very best they could find.

Foggy was a man that Maria herself had never met in person. Although she knew a lot about him and he, according to Matt, knew a lot about her, neither of them had ever met before. She felt slightly excited about finally getting to meet him though her excitement didn't last very long as the hurt and betrayal she felt reappeared in her heart. It had been the only emotions that she had felt during that entire evening after Artur had been caught and she just wanted them to go away. The only thing that was on her mind, was the thought of how nice it would've been if she had agreed on Steve staying with her so that he could've been there to make her feel better. Just his loving eyes would've been enough for her to feel better again.

Slowly, she took the stairs up to the second floor, the odd smell dying down slightly before being replaced by a smell of paper and ink. The door that led inside the law-firm also had the name of the firm painted on it and she raised her hand, forming it into a fist before lingering just a few centimeters from the door. Something inside of her made her hesitate. The last time she had spoken to Matt was during the battle of New York, when she had thrown her phone away, making it break, instead of hanging up like any normal person would. Of course, any normal person wouldn't have placed themselves in such a situation in the first place.

Once again, she was going to knock on the door but she hesitated one more time; maybe he was angry with her for not having called him again. Maybe he felt betrayed and didn't want to talk to her again. Or maybe-

Voices were heard inside of the premises and she lowered her hand, placing her ear against the wooden door instead. She squinted her eyes, as if it was going to help her to hear better what the voices inside were saying.

 _"What's wrong? You've been like this the entire day. Actually you've been like this the entire week."_

The voice was unfamiliar to Maria. Though the next voice was not.

 _"It's nothing. I'm just tired, that's all."_

Matt.

 _"Long night again?"_

 _"No. I stayed at home. Had to sleep a little."_

 _"Alright… Then, what is it? Don't give me that look! I've known you for too long to_ not _know when something is bothering you!"_

The unfamiliar voice was the voice of a man and Maria immediately concluded that it must be Foggy since she didn't know of any other man working with Matt.

 _"Really, it's nothing."_

 _"Is it about the news article I put up? About the so called Battle of New York?"_

Maria had heard enough and she immediately leaned away from the door, knocking on the door three times rapidly. Matt was feeling down and she wanted to immediately tell him that she was there for him. Although she had come here to talk to Matt about her own problems, she suddenly felt selfish for doing so. After all, Matt had always been there for her when she had problems and she couldn't recall the last time that they had sat down to talk about _him_.

Once again, she knocked on the door thrice and almost immediately, someone opened the door. It was a man in his late twenties standing in front of Maria, looking at her with confused though kind eyes. His blonde hair was slightly longer than men usually had it and his blue eyes scanned her face, taking in her features.

"Can I help you, miss?" asked the man.

"I'm looking for a… Matt Murdock," said Maria, shifting impatiently on her feet.

"I'm afraid we're closed. Could you come back at… say," said the man, lifting his left arm up and looking down at the clock he was wearing around his wrist. "Nine in the morning?"

Her heart started to beat faster with each second that passed. Her eyes lingered on the man's watch as he looked back at her, getting no reply from her as she watched the second hand tick by, each tick making her become more and more nervous. She _needed_ to see Matt. To tell him everything was okay. And to get the conformation that she still had people in her life that actually cared for her apart from her team.

"I'm sorry," said Maria, pushing past Foggy, ignoring his protests as she continued to walk inside, her eyes searching for any sign of Matt.

The moment she did find him, she froze on the spot. He turned his head slightly towards her, his eyes shielded by a pair of glasses as his hands held a walking stick, his upper body leaning slightly on it. Her eyes started to water and a lump formed in her throat.

"I'm sorry," said Foggy as he walked past her towards Matt, standing beside him as he fully turned to look at Maria. "I couldn't stop her. She really wanted to meet you. Sorry, miss, what's your name?"

Maria continued to stare at Matt as he furrowed his brow, seeming to be hearing her beating heart quicken before something clicked inside of him. Yes, he was blind, but he could still see slightly and something told Maria that he recognized her body shape; her hair and her curves. A tear fell down her cheek as she started to walk towards him, Matt letting out a breath to which Foggy glanced at him, a confused look on his face.

"Matt…" said Maria, Matt's eyebrows rising as his lip trembled, realization crossing his face. "I'm sorry…" she sobbed before Matt threw the cane in his hands away, running up to Maria and embracing her tightly.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck, letting some of the tears fall though not all of them as she still wanted to show that she wasn't completely broken on the inside. Though, that feeling was going away. As she had predicted, the fact that Matt was still there made her feel better.

His arms held a tight grip on her, his cheek pressed against the top of her head as he breathed heavily, seeming to be fighting back tears as well.

"I thought… I thought you'd died," whispered Matt, his embrace tightening. "The battle… I saw it – the aftermath – on the news. I heard about Iron Man… the Hulk and Thor… But nothing about you. You weren't even mentioned… I thou-"

"I'm sorry," said Maria, lifting her head so that she was looking up into his eyes, placing her hands on his cheeks. "I'm so sorry… I should've called; let you know I was alright. But I didn't… So many things have happened lately and I just… forgot." Tears started to fall again as she realized how bad that sounded. She had forgotten about the one friend that had stuck with her for longer than anyone, even longer than her own parents. "I'm sorry…" she breathed before he pulled her back into the embrace.

"It's okay," said Matt, his voice rumbling against Maria's ear. "I don't care… I just care about the fact that you're okay."

 _Artur placed his hands on her cheeks, wiping away some of the dirt and blood that was splattered all over her face. "I don't care about the failed mission… I just care about the fact that you're okay."_

Maria shook the memory away, once again looking up at Matt's eyes behind the glasses he wore. "How are you?"

Slowly and carefully, Maria pulled away from the embrace, wiping some of the tears away from her cheeks before smiling up at Matt again. The smile was hard to form but once it was there, she felt like a weight was lifted from her. Like she was once again that young girl who met a strange man on the streets one night as she had been out, looking for some kind of work somewhere. They had bumped into each other and Maria had felt so sorry for him, since he was blind, that she had offered to walk him back home. Although she had felt a little scared about the fact that this man could be just as bad as Artur had been to her, she still went with him and as they talked, they soon found out that they both had the same humor and the same opinions about almost everything. It had been the start of a great friendship.

Just as Maria was about to answer Matt's question, Foggy coughed slightly, causing both Maria and Matt to look over at him.

"You wanna introduce me or should I leave the two of you alone?" asked Foggy.

"Sorry," said Matt with an amused look on his face. "Foggy, meet Maria Dalton. Maria, meet Foggy Nelson."

"Hi," said Maria, stretching out her hand to him and smiling sweetly at him. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Wow," replied Foggy, shaking her hand. "I mean- Nice to finally meet you too. I've heard a lot about you."

"All nice things I hope," said Maria, not being able to ignore the fact that she wished that Matt had not told Foggy any of her past. It was not the best thing to tell someone you'd just met.

"All nice things," said Matt, placing a hand on her back as to tell her that he indeed had told him none of that.

"Nice? _Awesome_ things!" said Foggy, letting go of her hand. "You're part of the Avengers!"

Maria bit her lip, smiling widely at the amazed look on Foggy's face.

"And you're here, in our very poor looking office… just standing there," said Foggy, before he realized what she was wearing. "In a… red dress."

"Oh," said Maria, looking down at her red dress that she was still wearing underneath her jacket. "I… I was on a mission. It's a long story."

"A story you want to talk about?" asked Matt.

"Actually… I need somewhere to stay the night," said Maria.

* * *

 _The sound of something dripping echoed against the walls in the dark room where she was standing. Far away, she could hear a choir singing a sad psalm and although it was faint, she could hear that it was coming from underneath her. In fact, she knew that it came from underneath of her since this was a memory she had revisited a lot of times during the nights. Yes, she knew this was a dream, though she didn't know how to get out of it.._

 _She was in a church, a church in the outskirts of Portland. One of the people that had been partners with Artur had his company in Portland. A couple weeks ago, that man had stopped sending Artur money and it seemed as though the man had tried to get away from him. This was, though, something one could not simply do. Even if he had spoken to Artur about the fact that he didn't want to be partners anymore, he would've had the same fate._

 _Wearing her signature mask formed as a cat, she looked up at the body that was strung from the ceiling. He hung upside down in the attic of the church where he had thought that Artur's men would not dare to kill him. Though he had been wrong. For a while, Maria had simply let him hang there, begging for his life. That was what Artur had always wanted her to do to the people who betrayed or angered him, just so they could send a message to the people that were thinking of doing the same mistake._

 _Now, the man hung there, his throat cut open and the last drops of his blood dripping down onto the floor where the rest of his blood lay. Maria knew that the choir downstairs would soon notice the blood since it must drip through the floor at some point and she knew that she didn't have a lot of time to get out, but she also couldn't move. This man had been an elderly man and he had had a family; a daughter, waiting for him at home. It had never really occurred to her that these people that she murdered for Artur had lives as well and it scared her that she had never thought about it before. It scared her that she had been such a machine and it scared her that she had_ murdered _people. She_ was _a murderer. A freak. And not better than the people that she killed._

 _Slowly, she fell to her knees. This was the last straw. Not only had she found Artur in bed with another woman, but now she had realized what she was as well. She had realized how much Artur was using her._

 _She had had enough._

* * *

"Maria!" called Matt's voice, causing her to awaken again.

She looked up into his grey eyes, panting heavily and a cold sweat covering her entire body. She lay there for a while, simply staring up at him as he held her arms tightly in his hands, leaning over her slightly.

"You were crying in your sleep. I couldn't wake you up," said Matt quietly, finally letting go of her arms again and crouching down next to her instead. "You're having nightmares again."

Maria slowly relaxed her muscles, thinking back at the dream she had dreamed and sighing loudly. "Yes…"

"Is it because of Artur?" asked Matt, grabbing her hand in his while his face showed a look of expectancy as she nodded her head. He didn't look directly at her, though she knew that he was looking at her as he said; "Tell me."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10, Science Bros

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 10~  
Science Bros  
**

"You be careful, alright?" asked Matt, leaning down to kind of look at her though more to make his voice heard over the sound of traffic that came from the street behind the cab. His hand held the door open as Maria placed the bag she had borrowed from Matt next to her, nodding at Matt.

"You too," she said, looking up at him. "What with Fisk and all."

Last night, when she had had her first nightmare in a long time, she and Matt had stayed up several hours in order to talk. At first, Maria had told him everything that had happened to her lately since she hadn't had the time to truly talk about it before going to bed. Yes, she had told him about her mission and that they had caught Artur, but they hadn't talked about what she felt about it and what she had been doing before that. And so, she had let it all out that very night. It felt amazingly good to do so and afterwards – after she had calmed down her crying and sobbing again – she had asked Matt about himself. And a _lot_ had been discussed after she had asked him that. Apparently, his life had taken a major turn after the battle of New York and after he had started his own law firm with Foggy. Of course, his life was already a little different since he did fight crime during most nights, but it had turned even stranger after that since something big had turned up.

"I will," said Matt before he stepped away from the cab. "Call me!"

Maria nodded her head before Matt closed the door and the cab sped away. She couldn't help but feel a little saddened at having to leave him again, though on the other hand, he now had her new phone number and he could call her if there was something he wanted to talk about. Though, she was still going to miss to be able to talk to him face to face. He had been the one to take her in after she had recovered from Artur and what he had done to her. They had both met in the hospital, Matt having broken his arm while Maria had been there for months in order to heal her wound that Artur had given her when she left him. It was strange how her healing hadn't kicked in back then yet and she still wondered if it could have saved her from the damage that she now had.

The car ride to Midtown didn't feel as long as Maria thought it would feel. Probably because she had been thinking about possible things that could be the reason as to why she could heal fast, though she hadn't come up with anything logical. After all, she had proof of the fact that she was born in a hospital on Earth and she was in no way an alien or _God_ , like Thor.

When the cab stopped in front of Stark Tower, Maria quickly paid the driver before exiting the cab quickly, her bag in her hand. In the bag, which she had borrowed from Matt – a bag that looked like one that Matt had once used for whenever he went boxing – she had placed her red dress and the mask she had worn to the mission along with her suit, daggers and sword. It all fit in there which she was rather amazed at. At the moment she wore a far too big shirt that she had been allowed to borrow from Matt along with a pair of sweatpants who as well were several sizes too big for her. She was sure that she looked rather odd as she walked towards Stark Tower with those clothes on though she ignored the looks she got from the people walking around in suits and simply walked on.

Telling the receptionist who she was, she was escorted to an office where a woman was sitting behind a desk. She smiled at Maria with a warm smile and gestured for her to enter, the escort leaving her there.

"Hey… I came to talk to Mr. Stark," said Maria, the woman standing up.

"Name?" she asked, her ginger hair glistening in the sunlight that shone down on her through the window.

"Maria. Maria Dalton," replied Maria.

"Oh," said the woman, immediately rounding her desk. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you. I'm Pepper. Nice to finally meet you."

She stretched out her hand and Maria smiled warmly at the woman, shaking her hand. "Ah, so you're the lovely Pepper."

"Tony and Bruce are waiting for you upstairs. Usually they work over in the other building but they're here today so you could find them," said Pepper, earning a confused look from Maria as she walked past her, leading her outside again. "You've not heard of Tony's project?"

"Project?" she asked, walking up to walk beside Pepper who continued to walk past several offices, seeming to be leading Maria to an elevator.

"He's building an Avenger's Tower," said Pepper. "Just in case there'd ever be another emergency that would need the team to come together again."

"He's building a tower just in case? Where does he get the money from?" said Maria, the last part having been said more to herself than to Pepper.

"I know," replied Pepper. "He's building a new mansion as well since the last one was kind of blown to pieces."

They entered the elevator at this point, Pepper pressing the button that led to the level that was one level below the highest level; number 38.

"What?" asked Maria, raising an eyebrow.

"I think Tony should tell you that story. He knows more details than I do," said Pepper. "If you want, I can get you some clothes to wear for when you go back home?"

"Oh… No, this is fine. I don't wear this usually but um… It's comfy to travel in," said Maria, blushing slightly as she tugged at the hem of the shirt she wore.

"It actually suits you a little," said Pepper. "Tony asked me to ask you since he figured you hadn't brought any civilian clothes with you on the mission."

"Oh, yeah. I had, but they weren't really my taste. They were for going undercover and they weren't very comfy," said Maria, the doors opening again.

"Here you are," said Pepper, gesturing towards the doors. "Sorry, I would follow you but I have a meeting in two minutes. It's just down the corridor, to the left."

Maria stepped out of the elevator, turning around and saying goodbye to Pepper before walking on, the elevator doors closing behind her. The corridor was long and dimly lit. Though the moment she turned to the left, she was met with the sight of a large room filled with science equipment she couldn't even begin to wrap her head around. It was awfully quiet and the sound of her boots - her boots she used while wearing her suit since she didn't have any other shoes with her - hitting the floor was the only sound that echoed against the large walls surrounding her. She dropped her bag and started to look at the equipment, running from one part of the room to the other to take a closer look at the different machines that were placed all around the room.

"Ah!" exclaimed a voice suddenly, causing her to jump and spin around to look at the doorway where her bag was still lying.

Two men were standing there, looking at her with amused eyes. Of course, those men were no one else but Bruce and Tony. Bruce smiled at her, waving a little awkwardly at her while Tony pointed a finger at her.

"That is a very rare machine that should not be touched by hands that don't know what they're doing!" said Tony, starting to walk over to her.

Maria looked back at the machine she had been inspecting before they had entered the room.

"It's an x-ray. Ignore him," said Bruce, earning a hurt look from Tony.

"It doesn't just take pictures," said Tony.

"No, you're right. They're in 3D, aren't they?" asked Bruce, Maria chuckling softly.

"Good to see you again," said Tony, his eyes scanning her up and down ones before he furrowed her brow. "Still undercover?"

Maria rolled her eyes. "I borrowed some clothes from a friend. I didn't have any other."

"I promise I won't tell Steve," said Tony before walking towards a cot that was placed a little further away.

Bruce and Maria exchanged a look at Tony's comment before shaking their heads. Quickly, Maria embraced Bruce.

"It's good to see you again," said Maria. "You've been here with Tony ever since New York?"

"Yeah," said Bruce. "It's been quite interesting. We've built some things and done some experiments over at the Avenger's Tower. There's still a few things that need to be fixed before we can start using it of course and that's what we've been up to."

"Sounds like fun," said Maria, walking over to Tony with Bruce next to her.

"How'd the mission go?" asked Bruce, Maria's smile immediately faltering which he of course noticed. "Sorry. Should I have kept quiet about it?"

"Oh, no," said Maria, shaking her head. "I'm fine - I mean, everything went fine."

Bruce nodded his head, watching her for a little while as Tony gestured towards the cot. It was obvious from the look on Bruce's face, that he didn't believe her. Though, he didn't press it any further which Maria was quite grateful for.

She slowly jumped up on the cot and looked at the two scientists with expectant eyes.

"So," started Tony. "As you know, the tests we've run on your skin didn't really give us much. Only that the cells are remarkably withstanding. Which is good."

Absentmindedly, Maria rubbed the part where Tony had scraped away a little bit of skin from her upper arm. Although it had healed quickly, it had still hurt when he had done it.

"Since that theory was wrong, we want to do some tests on your blood. This time, we'll also look at your DNA and see if we can find something unusual," said Bruce, walking up to her. "If that is okay with you?"

"Sure," said Maria, stretching out her arm to them.

Tony grabbed a needle attached to a little contraption that would help hold the blood that they would take from her. She had never really given blood before and so, this was completely new to her. The only time she had seen someone take a blood sample was on a documentary on the TV. The contraption Tony and Bruce used didn't look like that one at all and she assumed that it was because Tony had some pretty advanced technology that he usually built himself.

However, when he neared Maria's arm with the needle, his hand started to shake and he had to stop. Bruce gently took the needle from Tony who nodded his head and walked over to a screen that was attached to the wall behind Maria. She watched him as Bruce inserted the needle into her arm, the stinging from the needle piercing her skin made her look back at Bruce.

"Is he okay?" she whispered to Bruce who shook his head.

"He's had some trouble grasping the fact that what happened during the battle of New York actually happened. I suppose it's quite a lot to grasp for anyone," whispered Bruce back.

"You sure that is all?" asked Maria quietly, earning a shake of Bruce's head as he continued to concentrate on what he was doing.

"Not really," said Bruce.

Maria simply nodded her head, looking away from Bruce as he inserted the needle into one of her veins. She thought about what he had said and now that she thought about it, she hadn't really had that much time to think about the fact that those had been _aliens_. Instead, she had been completely caught up with her training. But, on the other hand, she had never really doubted the fact that there were other organisms out there. In fact, she was one of those people that believed more in aliens than in God. Especially after all that she had been through and all the pain she had felt during her life, the idea of a God being up there, watching over them, was something that she laughed at. Darwinism was her belief if anything.

"Done," said Bruce, making her look back at him, raising an eyebrow at how quickly it went.

"You can't see anything now? Before I leave?" asked Maria, Tony returning to the two of them and shaking his head.

"Jarvis is going to have to run a lot of tests and so are we. I'm afraid it's gonna take a while," said Tony.

He nudged her shoulder at the disappointed look on her face. "Don't be like that. Science takes a while but at least you'll find out the truth sooner or later."

"I wouldn't know," said Maria, shrugging before she jumped off the cot. "Never got that far in school."

"You know, we can teach you some things, if you want," said Tony, earning a shake of Maria's head.

"If there's anything I need to know, I'll google it or just learn it the hard way," said Maria, earning a scoff from Bruce. "That's how my entire life has been so I think I can live like that for a little while longer."

Both scientists followed her back to the elevator in silence. It wasn't until Tony's phone rang that either of them looked at each other again.

"I have to take this," said Tony as he looked at his phone, recognizing the number. "You, be careful, alright?" he said, looking at Maria. As she smiled and nodded her head, Tony smirked slightly. "Be good to Steve."

He patted her arm slightly before answering the phone, walking away from them. Bruce sighed slightly as he watched Maria press the button to call up the elevator to her level.

"Maybe you should talk to him," said Maria, glancing over at him. "I think that would do him good, to just talk about what is bothering him."

Bruce pursed his lips slightly before nodding. "Yeah… Maybe."

"What about you?" asked Maria, cocking her head to the side. "You okay?"

"Define okay," said Bruce, earning a smirk from Maria though they both felt the weight of the question as none of them could answer it.

"Is the other guy not giving you any problems?" asked Maria quietly.

"No. I just hope that when the world needs us, he won't lose control over himself," said Bruce, earning a confused look from Maria. "He knows you. All of you. And he knows what he's supposed to do. He's not completely a monster… But if he loses control over himself… God knows what could happen then."

* * *

 _"On your left."_

Steve stopped running as he saw the man he had passed several times that morning sitting against a tree, panting heavily. He couldn't help but smirk at the fact that that used to be himself before the actual serum. He'd have a hard time keeping up with the rest of the men during his time in training and after only a few minutes, he'd be the one that had to take a break. Of course, he never took one as he had known that the only way to make progress was by pushing himself to the limit every day.

"Need a medic?" asked Steve, earning the attention from the man who scoffed at his words.

"I need a new set of lungs," said the man, shaking his head. "Dude, you just ran, like, thirteen miles in thirty minutes."

He couldn't keep himself from feeling proud over it and so, with his hands placed on his hips, Steve said; "Guess I got a late start."

"Oh really?" asked the man, amusement dripping from his words. "You should be ashamed of yourself. Should take another lap."

Steve smiled, watching the man look away from him for a while before looking back up at Steve. "Did you just take it? I assume you just took it."

"What unit are you with?" asked Steve, changing the subject as he noticed the logo on the man's shirt.

"58th, pararescue," said the man. "But now I'm working down at the VA. Sam Wilson."

At the introduction, Steve held out his hand to help him up; "Steve Rogers."

"I kind of put that together," replied Sam, smirking slightly. "Must've freaked you out coming home after the whole de-frosting thing."

Although Steve couldn't help but feel slightly down at the words Sam had just said, he still nodded his head, keeping the smile on his face; "It takes some getting used to," he said before taking a few steps back. "Nice meeting you, Sam."

He hadn't managed to walk even a few steps until Sam continued to talk; "It's your bed, right?"

His words caused Steve to stop in his tracks, turning back around with a questioning look on his face; "What's that?"

"Your bed is too soft," explained Sam. "When I was over there I slept on the ground and used rocks for pillows… like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed and it's like…"

"Lying on a marshmallow," said Steve, nodding his head.

He had felt it. Especially during the time before the Avengers had gotten together, before he had met Maria. In fact, that very night, he had felt like that more than ever. For three nights in a row he had slept in the same bed as Maria and doing so made him feel okay. Of course he still went through some night terrors, though waking up to Maria's face after something like that always seemed to calm him down. But now that she wasn't there and he wasn't on a mission like he had been the night before, he just couldn't sleep. Hence why he was out running so early in the morning. Of course it was something that he enjoyed doing as well since it otherwise would get too hot later in the day, not to mention that the sunrise was quite beautiful, though when Maria was there, he'd always have a reason to go out later in the morning.

"Feel like I'm gonna sink right through to the floor."

Sam nodded his head, seeming pleased to find someone that understood what he felt and was going through.

"How long?" asked Steve.

"Two tours," said Sam, making Steve nod his head. "You must miss the good old days, huh?"

"Well," said Steve, shrugging. "Things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better – we used to boil everything. No polio's good… Internet; so helpful. Been reading that a lot, trying to catch up."

"Marvin Gaye, 1972. Trouble Man soundtrack," said Sam, making Steve raise his eyebrows as he took out a small notebook from his pocket. "Everything you missed jammed up in one album."

The notebook had been Maria's idea. At first, it had actually belonged to her and as she was away, she'd write down small things that she had to show him whenever she had time. Though, as time went by and Steve himself found out things that he needed to look into, she gave the notebook to him in order for him to write some things down as well.

"I'll put it on the list," said Steve with a smile as he indeed wrote it down.

He barely had time to finish writing it until someone sent him a text. At first, his heart was filled with hope that it would be from Maria. However, it was simply a text from Natasha, telling him that she was going to pick him up for the upcoming mission. He was still quite bewildered at the fact that they just knew where he was all the time, though he didn't bother thinking about it since this was SHIELD after all.

"Alright Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run," said Steve, once again shaking hands with him. "If that's what you wanna call running."

"Oh, that's how it is?" asked Sam, an amused look on his face as Steve smiled at him.

"Oh, that's how it is," repeated Steve with a chuckle before letting go of Sam's hand.

"Anytime you wanna stop by the VA to make me look awesome in front of the girl in the front desk, just let me know," said Sam as Steve backed up towards the sidewalk where a black car came to a stop.

As the front window was opened, Natasha was seen sitting behind the steering wheel, smirking over at Steve and Sam.

"Hey fellows," she said. "Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil."

"Hilarious," said Steve as he walked over to the car, opening the door.

"How you doing?" asked Sam to Natasha as Steve entered the car, making him resist the urge to roll his eyes.

He was looked rather impressed by the way Romanoff looked and the way he said it implied just that as well. If he reacted like this to Natasha, thought Steve to himself, than he'd better be prepared for when he meets Maria.

"Can't run everywhere," said Steve, smirking over at Sam.

"No you can't," said Sam with an approving look on his face.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11, Sam Wilson

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 11~  
Sam Wilson  
**

Tony's jet had gotten her to Washington in under one hour which she was grateful for. By now, all she wanted to do was relax on the couch, a cup of tea warming her hand and movie playing on the TV. The past few days had been stressful to her and she was indeed very tired. The jet had taken her back to SHIELD's headquarters which made her slightly nervous. After all, she was wearing the baggiest clothes one could possibly wear and she would have to walk through the entire headquarters wearing those clothes. With her chin held high, she exited the jet and made her way back inside in order to get to the exit. She felt like a weirdo though she didn't bother to let the others see that. Instead, she walked with confident steps towards the elevator, rode the elevator down five levels with a determined face and was about to exit the building with confident steps when a thought struck her.

Artur was locked up in there just a level or two down.

A part of her wanted to simply walk on through those doors and never see him again. But another part of her wanted to see him standing behind bars, looking at her with a defeated look in his eyes. She'd finally get to show to him that she had managed to sort her life out and that she was over him.

For a few, long seconds, there was an inner battle inside of Maria. However, in the end, the proud part of her lost and she continued to walk outside. After all, Steve was probably waiting for her and she wanted to meet him again as soon as possible.

* * *

She opened the door to Steve's apartment a little after midday. With a smile gracing her lips, she walked inside, ready to be met by Steve's baby blue eyes and his loving smile. However, no one was home. With a disappointed feeling surging through her body, she walked straight into the bedroom, placing her bag on the bed. From it, she extracted the clothes she had worn on the mission - which she was sure that she was going to have to return to SHIELD soon - along with her suit. Her suit, she placed back in the closet, while she let the remaining clothes lay on the bed for the time being. Quickly, she took off her oversized clothes, grabbed a pair of clean ones from her own closet before entering the bathroom. It was a small bathroom though it was large enough to hold both a bath and a shower separately. Without hesitating whether or not she should, she turned the tap on and let the bathtub fill with steaming hot water. Since she didn't have anything to put in the water yet, she simply let herself sink into the steaming water, her entire body relaxing while she made a mental note to get some bath oils soon.

With her chin touching the water, she let her mind wander as her eyes watched the steam that arose from the water, smiling ever so often at the relaxation she felt at the moment. When the front door opened, Maria snapped back into reality. Of course, her first thought was that Steve had come back home and so, she let herself relax again.

"I'm taking a bath!" she exclaimed in order to make Steve know that she was home, not wanting to scare the life out of him if he walked in to go to the toilet or something like that.

She closed her eyes, letting her mind wander again when all of a sudden, it hit her. Steve wasn't replying to her. Slowly, she sat up in the water, concentrating as much as possible on her hearing capability, trying to determine if someone indeed was in the apartment. When she heard footsteps coming from the bedroom, she cursed herself for not letting the door open further so that she could see inside of the bedroom as well.

"Steve?" she called again, her hands grasping the sides of the bathtub, ready to boost herself over the side in case she had to defend herself. "Steve!?"

Slowly and without caring about her calls, the footsteps walked out of the bedroom again. With quick movements, Maria stepped out of the bath, grabbing a towel and barely wrapping it around her before she exited the room. With swift movements, she grabbed her sword from the closet before walking over to the bedroom door who, whoever was inside of the apartment, had closed again. She slowly placed her fingers on the doorknob, turning it slowly and in the process opening the door ever so slightly before peeking through the crack. Inside of the living room, she saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, though she doubted that the person had exited the apartment yet. After all, she hadn't heard the front door open and close again.

Softly, Maria made her way through the door, her free hand holding a grip on the towel while her other hand held a firm grip on the sword. If anyone decided to attack her, she was ready.

However, the unsub wasn't in their apartment anymore.

A window in the living room, close to the TV, was open and he or she had probably exited through it since it had not been open when Maria had arrived. Although, it was an odd way to exit a building since the apartment was a few levels above the ground, Maria and Steve were a part of the Avengers and Maria knew that those who were against them could very well be enhanced people; like Steve. She jogged over to the window, looking down towards the ground though seeing nothing out of the ordinary there.

With an annoyed sigh, she placed the sword on the couch, starting to mentally scold herself for not exiting the bath earlier in order to grab the creep that had entered Steve's apartment. Then, she froze.

What had the person stolen? Was it even a burglar? Had it been an assassin meant for Steve? Or for her? Did anyone outside of SHIELD or the team know that she lived with Steve?

With quick steps, she jogged back inside the bedroom, searching for any sign of anything that was misplaced or stolen. But she saw nothing. Then, she made her way back to the living room, searching it and the kitchen for anything out of the ordinary. Though once again, she found no traces of anything apart from the fact that Steve had eaten a piece of bread before he had gone away to wherever he was now and left the plate on the counter.

After having sighed once again, she quickly made her way to the front door, inspecting the lock. She even opened the door in order to check the lock on both sides, though she saw no sign of a break-in. Whoever this person had been, had had a key to Steve's apartment.

Something was wrong. She knew this. Though what that was, she didn't know.

"Maria?"

Quickly, she spun around, pressing her back against the still open door before widening her eyes as she saw Sharon standing there, looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"What is happening?" asked Sharon, clearly addressing the fact that Maria was standing outside of Steve's apartment in nothing more but a towel while bending down to look at the door's lock.

"Oh… Nothing. I-I just thought that the keyhole was… letting in air," said Maria, closing her eyes for a few seconds as she heard herself say those words over and over again. "I mean, nothing."

"O-Okay," said Sharon before Maria pushed herself back inside of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

"Right… _Clothes,_ " said Maria to herself before running back into the bedroom.

* * *

Although she was still tense after what had happened earlier, which was the reason for why her daggers were lying on the coffee table in front of her, she was also bored. She had been waiting for Steve to come back all day now and one can only watch so much TV before it gets boring. It was almost six o'clock and Maria was starting to doubt that Steve was in Washington to begin with. Of course she had tried to text him, but his phone was, apparently, not turned on.

When a key was inserted into the lock, Maria straightened up her back, muting the TV in the process, looking over at the door with expectant eyes. Indeed, when the door opened, Steve entered.

"You're back!" exclaimed Maria, standing up from the couch.

She had startled Steve, though when he saw her face, he smiled just like she was doing.

"Hey," said Steve, opening up his arms to her as she jogged over to him. "Sorry I'm back late, I had some things I wanted to do."

"That's okay," said Maria with a smile, pressing a kiss to his cheek before stepping back in order to let him take off his jacket in piece.

When Steve looked back at Maria, he saw that her smile was gone and he grew serious and worried instantly.

"What?" he asked.

"Someone was here earlier," said Maria, earning a confused look from Steve as he followed her inside of the living room. "I was taking a bath when someone entered the apartment."

"What? Are you okay?" asked Steve, placing his hands on her arms, relaxing slightly when she nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just, I should've gotten out earlier so that I could punch the creep," said Maria with a sigh.

"What did he do?" asked Steve, looking around slightly to see if something was missing or broken.

"I don't know. I've checked everywhere," she said. "But I can't seem to find anything missing or anything strange. It's like the person just wanted to asset what your apartment looked like or something."

"Strange," mused Steve. "We better be careful then."

Maria nodded her head. "I lived in a tough neighborhood my entire childhood. My granny taught me some tricks on how to make sure that nobody entered the apartment without your consent or knowledge. The next time we leave, I'll make sure that I'll plant some of these… _tricks_."

"Good," said Steve. "We'll need that."

"So, how'd the mission go?" asked Maria, sitting herself down on the couch and patting the spot next to her.

"I don't know," he replied, sitting down next to Maria. "Romanoff had a different assignment than me. My mission was to safe the hostages. Nat's mission was to save files, apparently."

Maria furrowed her brow. Although she wasn't allowed to know what the mission was about, Steve could always tell her details like that. Details that, this time, troubled her slightly.

"But, if you're on the same team; how can Nat have a different mission?" asked Maria.

"That's what I asked Fury too," said Steve with a sigh. "And that's when he showed me something even more alarming."

"What?" asked Maria before shaking her head. "I suppose you can't tell me though."

" _I_ didn't even have clearance for it," said Steve before placing an arm around her shoulders.

"Did you have a nice day at least?" asked Maria, leaning against his shoulder as she let her eyes rest on the television screen that was currently showing an advertisement for coffee.

"Went to the museum," said Steve, earning a glance from Maria.

"Oh," she said, shifting one arm so that it was resting over Steve's stomach, making her current position a little more relaxing.

"Thought it might give me some insight in what I should do," said Steve, making Maria furrow her brow again.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought… I thought I could just throw myself back into all of this, you know? Do the thing that I wanted and that I was made for; saving people and following orders again. But it's not the same. People don't trust each other anymore. SHIELD isn't the same as the military," said Steve.

"No, it's not. The military would've shipped you off to some far away country and let you fight like you did in the war," said Maria. "Other men can do that now, Steve. There's no world war anymore. The world's changed and there are other things that we need super soldiers for."

"I know," said Steve, brushing a hand through her hair. "Sometimes it just feels like that new thing is to clean up after SHIELD."

"It's only been a year…" said Maria shifting so that she was looking up at Steve. "I'm sure you'll find your place in SHIELD soon."

Steve smiled a soft smile at her, nodding his head.

"How'd things go in Midtown?" asked Steve, earning only a sigh from Maria as she let her head fall back onto his shoulder.

"They took some samples… They're gonna check my DNA now," said Maria. "It's gonna take some time but they'll probably find something soon. Hey, did you know that they're building an Avengers Tower?"

"Really?" asked Steve, earning a nod from Maria. "I didn't know that."

* * *

The next day, Steve told Maria he had someone he had promised to go and visit. It was someone that he had met only two days ago and since Maria didn't want to be left alone, she came along with Steve to this place. The moment the cab stopped in front of the building, Maria knew where they were. She couldn't help but feel like this was a perfect place for Steve to process the war he had gone through. Yes, she did try and help him as much as possible, but there was only so much that she could do to help him.

 _"The thing is, I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week,"_ said a voice from inside one of the larger rooms.

Maria stopped a little behind Steve, watching him take in the scene before him. She wondered if he had ever thought about the effect that the participation in the war would cause him during the time where he would lie to the doctors about who he was just so he could be a part of the men that were sent to Europe. That it would change him both for the better and the worse. Maybe he had, maybe he hadn't, but one thing was for sure;

He was thinking about it now.

There was a small group of people sitting in the hall, all listening to one woman's story with intent ears. One man was standing in front of this group, listening as well and leaning on a sort of pedestal placed in front of the group. He looked like he was leading the group session for veterans and Maria immediately felt respect for him. Mostly because she knew that military men and women needed help after coming home from a war, this she had seen with her own eyes with Steve, but also because she could relate slightly to him since she tried to do her best to help someone who was struggling to move on from a war.

"I swerved to miss a plastic bag… I thought it was a bomb," the woman said.

"Some stuff we leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it," said the man leading the session.

As he said this, Maria walked up to stand next to Steve, hooking her arm through his and leaning her cheek against his upper arm.

"Is it going to be in a big suitcase or in a little man purse?" continued the man. "It's up to you."

As the session ended and people started to walk past Steve and Maria in order to get to the exit, Maria started to wonder who the person that Steve had met was. Each person that walked past them didn't seem to know Steve and it wasn't until the man leading the session had said goodbye to the last member of the group that Maria finally understood who it was.

"Look who it is," said the man as Steve walked over to him, Maria following behind. "The running man."

With his hands tucked into his pockets, Steve smirked at the man.

"Caught the last few minutes," said Steve. "It's pretty intense."

"Yeah, brother. We all got the same problems; guilt, regret…" said the man.

"You lose someone?" asked Steve.

"My wingman," he replied. "Riley. Fly in the night mission, standard PJ rescue operation, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before. 'Till an RPG knocked down Riley's ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It was like I was up there just to watch."

"Sorry," said Steve, Maria feeling more and more like she shouldn't be there. Surely she had problems of her own but hearing these two men talking, it sounded like her problems were tiny compared to their losses and pain.

"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there," he said.

"But you're happy now?" asked Steve. "Back in the world."

"The number of people giving me orders is down to about zero, so; hell yeah," said the man. "You thinking about getting out?"

"No… I don't know," said Steve. "To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."

"Ultimate fighting? Just a great idea of the top of my head," said the man, earning a smile from both Maria and Steve. "But seriously though, you can do whatever you wanna do. What makes you happy?"

Slowly, Steve grabbed a hold of Maria's hand, making her blush and raise her eyebrows. At first, she couldn't believe that Steve's answer to the man's question had been her and she had simply thought that he had grabbed her hand randomly while thinking. However, when she looked over at him and saw the look he gave her, a sheepish and cute look, her heart melted and she bit her lip in order to keep the giggles that wanted to burst out of her inside.

"Well," chuckled the man. "I can't disagree with that. A lady like that would make any man happy."

"Sam, meet Maria," said Steve, shifting so that his arm was around her waist. "Maria, this is Sam-"

"Wilson," continued the man, reaching out a hand for her to shake which she did with a delighted smiled. "I'll be damned. Only the best for Captain America, I suppose."

Maria's already existing blush only grew redder at his words which made him smirk.

"Nice meeting you, Sam."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12, SHIELD compromised?

**Sorry for the long wait, guys! School got in the way. Anyway, I should be able to go back to regular updates with at least one update a week. Yay! :D**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 12~  
SHIELD compromised?  
**

With her arms wrapped around his waist, the cool evening air of Washington slapping against her cheeks every now and then, she and Steve rode the motorcycle back to the apartment again. They had spent the rest of the day with Sam who turned out to be a very nice man who showed them some new cafés along with a small park not too far away from where Maria and Steve lived. In that very park, the three of them had spent at least three hours simply sitting down in the grass, talking and having a blast. In the end, Maria concluded that she really liked Sam and that she never had felt more inclined to call someone again after they had said goodbye. Sam Wilson was a man true to his words, never once seeming to tell a single lie about anything, and he knew how to be sarcastic; two qualities that Maria loved in friends.

When Steve stopped the engines of the motorcycle and placed his feet back on the ground, steadying the bike for Maria to be able to climb off it without any problems, she couldn't help but feel like everything was too quiet. Of course, it was quite late at night and the next day would be a Wednesday. People usually wouldn't go out and party during weekdays. However, this was Washington and there were always people out and about. That evening, there was almost no one there. The air around them even seemed heavy and too silent for a normal evening. She gave Steve a look when he climbed off the bike too, earning a nod of his head.

"I feel it too," he said quietly before grabbing her hand and dragging her to the entrance.

Maria watched him fumble with the keys for a while before opening the door and leading them inside the building.

"Did you set up the trick?" asked Steve quietly as they started to climb the stairs.

"Yeah, I did," replied Maria, walking behind Steve.

On the way up, they briefly encountered Sharon. Steve and she exchanged a greeting before she walked on down the stairs, offering Maria a smile as well. She couldn't help but feel a little awkward around Sharon, though, since after she had seen Maria half naked in the corridor. However, that didn't mean that she didn't smile back at Sharon, though simply to be kind.

"How do we see it?" he asked as they arrived at the floor where Steve's apartment was.

"Not until we're inside," said Maria, taking the keys from Steve and leaving one of her daggers in his hands instead.

He gripped it, even though he looked slightly confused by how she had managed to carry it around without people noticing; without him noticing, and watched as she carefully placed the key in the keyhole, turning it. Opened the door, she immediately looked down at the floor, seeing the small string of cotton already lying there. It was an old trick that her grandmother had taught her;

 _"Place a small string in the doorway,"_ she would say; _"so that, when it's opened, it will fall down to the floor without the intruder noticing. That way, if the string is already on the floor, one can know if someone's entered the house without permission."_

With a deep breath, she looked back at Steve, nodding her head at him as she continued to grip the doorknob. It was a small gesture, though it was enough for him to understand that someone had entered the house before them. He seemed to tense up and become aggravated, though he stayed calm and simply nodded his head back at her.

"I'll go around," he said quietly before shoving the dagger back into her hands, a confused look on Maria's face as she was sure that the apartment did not have a backdoor. "Be careful."

And with that, he walked away from her and to the window on the other end of the hallway. She blinked a couple of times as she watched him climb out before she realized what he had meant. Instead of the backdoor, he had meant to climb around from the outside and enter through a window. Rolling her eyes at how slowly her brain was functioning, she turned around and entered the apartment, her dagger in her right hand. She closed the door behind her a little louder than usual, just so that the intruder could know that someone was there and that he was about to have to face two Avengers. At least, Maria assumed that there was only one as there had only been one that last time.

From inside, music could be heard playing and Maria recognized it as one of Steve's vinyl discs. In fact, it was one of her favorites from the collection he had. Slowly and silently, she started to make her way further into the apartment. She met up with Steve right before the doorway into the living room and she felt relieved about the fact that he had managed to get a hold on his shield. He gestured to her that there was one man in there and she nodded her head. Exactly what the different hand gestures meant was something she had learned over the last couple days from Steve, wanting to prepare her to go out on missions with him, something that she had been ecstatic about then but something she couldn't think about at that moment.

When Steve pressed his back against the wall, peeking out into the living room, his tensed stance relaxed slightly and Maria breathed out. If Steve didn't see the person as a threat, then at least the intruder with a _key_ to their apartment wasn't someone trying to kill them.

"I don't remember giving you a key," said Steve as he stepped out into the living room, Maria following him.

She widened her eyes as she saw Fury sitting in the armchair, leaning back into it as if he had been trying to fall asleep before they had arrived. Although it was dark, Maria could see that he looked awfully tired and she knew that, if he was at their home, there was something wrong.

"You really think I'd need one?" asked Fury, groaning slightly as he sat up straight in the chair.

"My wife kicked me out," he said, causing Maria to furrow her brow as she glanced over at Steve.

"I didn't know you were married," he replied, stating the same thing that Maria wanted to state.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me," replied Fury simply and by the way Steve tensed up and sighed quietly, Maria knew that it bothered Steve that Nick had secrets.

Steve had talked about it earlier, about how Fury had given Natasha a different mission without him knowing about it which endangered the entire mission. If she had read Steve's face correctly, Fury's words had hit a nerve. If there was something Steve didn't like, then it was when people lied to him.

"I know Nick, that's the problem," he replied, putting his shield back down against the wall with yet another sigh.

Maria, however, kept her dagger in her hand, seeing how Fury seemed to look a little longer at the now abandoned shield than he should have, almost as if he didn't want him to put it down. This alarmed Maria slightly and she didn't let her guard down.

When Steve turned on the lights, Maria's worried about something being wrong were confirmed as the both of them saw Fury's wounds and bruises. Something had definitely happened to him and Maria doubted that it had been his wife. Yes, women were strong, but this was Nick Fury and if someone attacked him, he would not let that person beat him for long enough to that deep wounds. Something else had happened and the grip on her dagger tightnened.

Right when Steve was about to ask where the wounds came from, Fury turned the lights off again, gesturing to the both of them to keep quiet about it. He quickly turned his gaze down to a phone that was resting in his hands before he started to type something. Steve looked over at Maria, shifting so that he was standing next to her, his hand brushing against hers. The look in his eyes told her enough to understand what he was trying to ask her without saying anything, which Fury had told them not to do, and she nodded her head; silently telling him that she was alright.

When Fury turned the phone for the two of them to see, Maria grasped Steve's hand as she read what it said.

 _"Ears everywhere."_

"I'm sorry to have to do this," started Fury, turning to the phone back to him again before starting to type once more; "but I had no place else to crash."

 _"SHIELD compromised."_

Maria's lips parted slightly in shock before she bit down on her bottom lip, worry spreading out into her veins like a poison, eating away at her courage. SHIELD had been one of few things in her life that had helped her to turn her life around. If they were compromised, she'd lost that thing. Of course, she was now a part of the Avengers and she knew that she could always stay with Steve, but it still made her feel slightly trapped. Through SHIELD, she got missions and something to do in her life. Without SHIELD; she'd have nothing to do. She never finished school, so work was not an option unless she faked her CV.

Although the thoughts about what she should do without SHIELD rushed through her mind, other thoughts soon appeared which made her realized that her worried thoughts had been quite selfish. After all, SHIELD had saved the world so many times and they had information and weapons that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could cause the end of the world. So, it wasn't just her own life that was at stake to be change if SHIELD fell, it was also everybody else's lives.

Pushing those thoughts away, she focused on the one thing she knew she should be focusing on: Fury and the explanation of how SHIELD was compromised. Surely, he was going to tell them?

"Who else knows about your _wife_?" asked Steve, skillfully asking Fury who else knew about SHIELD's danger without using those exact words.

"Just my friends," he replied, showing to the three of them his phone again.

 _"The three of us."_

"Is that what we are?" asked Steve, his tone causing Maria to glance over at him.

With the recent news, Maria had hoped that Steve could put aside what had happened earlier so that he could focus on what was at hand.

"That's up to you," he simply replied, having stood up by now and walked a little closer to Steve and Maria.

The next thing that happened, happened so fast that Maria barely had any chance to actually react to it. Instead, Steve reacted for her by pushing her behind him. Nick's painful cry along with the sound of a gun going off three times, only made Maria realize what horrible thing had just happened. They both wasted no time in running up to Fury as he fell to the floor, Maria grabbing his right hand while Steve grabbed his left hand. As if the both of them had talked about it through a telepathic link, they started to drag Fury's body in a synchronized way, pulling him to "safety" behind a wall. Although it looked like it had been because of a telepathic link, the truth was a little more horrible than that. Both Steve and Maria had during their life, been in far too many shootings for that reaction to not be the first one. It was like a reflex to the both of them. Steve had his war, and Maria had her criminal past.

With Fury in "safety", Maria crouched down next to him and placed a hand on his chest, looking at the three wounds left by the three bullets that had gone straight through him. With the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her heartbeat was almost the only thing she could hear and she barely even registered as Sharon kicked down the front door and entered with a gun in her hands. Steve did, though, and he walked up to her with a confused look on his face. Maria was about to join him, though Fury's hand shot up and grabbed the collar of her shirt, pulling her face down so that it was close to his. A single drop of blood slowly fell down his cheek and his teeth were covered with the red substance as he spoke to her in a pained and hushed voice;

"Don't trust anyone," he sputtered before releasing the grip on her collar, showing to her his closed hand before opening it to her.

There, in the palm of his hand, lay a USB stick and from the look in Fury's eye, he wanted her and Steve to keep it safe. When she heart footsteps come closer to them, she quickly grabbed the item and placed it inside of her bra, nodding at him before grabbing his hand and holding it, trying to make it look like she had been holding his hand the entire time and that nothing else had happened. Fury's focus was turned to trying to fight the bloodloss though he couldn't keep up and fainted the moment Sharon crouched down next to Maria, nearly pushing her to the side as she started to check for a pulse. Maria softly placed Fury's hand on the floor before standing up, rolling her eyes at the _agent of SHIELD_ as she started to call for back up. Lies was something that Maria didn't appreciate either.

Steve brushed past her and into the living room, Maria following him quickly. Her mind had yet to grasp what had just happened and she was almost shocked to see the bullet holes in the floor. Though, she was indeed shocked when she saw that the bullets had gone through the wall. What kind of professional shooter was this?

He stared at the bullet holes as well, his shield now in his hands.

"There!" said Maria when she suddenly saw a man standing on the rooftop of the building on the other side of the road.

"Stay here. I'll try to catch him," said Steve, shifting the shield in his hands so that it was in front of him.

"How?" asked Maria, furrowing her brow at Steve as she back away from him, accidentally stepped on her dagger which she had dropped when Fury had been shot.

He didn't reply, but only glanced at her once before suddenly charging towards the window, breaking it and using all his strength, which he had a lot of, to jump over to the opposite building. Maria couldn't help but gasp at his sudden action and she quickly ran to the now broken window, watching him break through another window on the other building before landing inside of it. When he ran away, further inside of the building, Maria looked up towards the roof, surprised to still see the shooter there. He was not aiming his gun at her but was simply staring at her instead, not fazed by the fact that Steve was after him. Maria placed her hands on the window frame, not flinching from the pain of the broken glass cutting through her palm, before leaning forwards. For some reason, she didn't feel threatened by the shooter. There was something about him that simply made him… neutral. When he turned around and started to run, Maria shook her head and stood back from the window.

Although she felt useless having to stay behind, she also felt slightly relieved. Turning around to look at the corner where they had dragged Fury, she noticed a trail of blood leading to his shoes that were sticking out from the corner. Her heart sank at the sight and thoughts started to swirl inside of her mind.

Why had he been shot?

Who was the shooter?

And _how_ was SHIELD compromised?

From her bra, she took the USB he had given to her before fainting and she inspected it, wondering why he had given her that. She wanted to use it and see for herself what secrets were hidden on there, but when she realized that Sharon was staring at her with tears appearing in her eyes, Maria decided that it was best not to do anything about it yet.

"What's that?" she asked, her wavering voice clearly showing to Maria that she was upset about what had happened to her boss.

 _"Don't trust anybody."_

Fury's last words to her echoed in her mind as she shook her head and placed the USB in her back pocket.

"Nothing special."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13, Fury's Death

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 13~  
Fury's death**

The huge glass window shielded Steve and Maria from being in the same room as Nick Fury as he was undergoing surgery to try and save his life. The small room in which they were standing was quiet and dark. The atmosphere was sullen and sad and Maria couldn't help but feel as though there was a large cocoon of depression surrounding her, wanting to wrap her in and make her life miserable. Nick Fury was a good man and he had helped her turn her life around. Had it not been for him and SHIELD, she would've never met Steve or the other Avengers. She would still be cleaning toilets over at Stark Tower and she would still fight crime only during the night and in secret without anyone else knowing. Almost all good things she had in her life, she had because of him and now she was watching him fight for his life. Still, that wasn't what was bothering her the most.

During her life, she had seen a lot of death and even created even more death. And now that she was watching Fury laying there, dying, she felt nothing. The depression was there, the sadness was there, but not inside of her. It was merely the atmosphere in the room and not the feelings inside of her. If anything, she felt angry because he was there and not beside her. What was the point of a man who did so much good, if all he would get was death?

The door opened and Natasha suddenly appeared next to Maria, an almost scared and devastated look on her face.

"Will he make it?" she asked quietly.

Maria didn't reply knowing that she would only sound angry if she did.

"I don't know," replied Steve.

"Tell me about the shooter," asked Natasha, the surgeons on the other side of the glass continuing with their work.

Maria let out a huff of air before stepping away from Natasha and Steve, turning away from the glass and from the sight of Fury. These were not the feelings she should be feeling. She should be feeling sadness, yes. But not anger.

"He's fast and strong," continued Steve, not looking over at Maria as Natasha did, thinking she was simply trying to deal with everything that was happening; which in a way was both right and wrong. "Had a metal arm."

The door had quietly opened during their quiet conversation and Hill had entered the room as well. She and Maria had curtly given each other a nod of their heads before she had walked oved to the glass, worry latching onto her eyes as she saw Fury.

"Ballistics?" asked Natasha.

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable," said Hill, causing Maria to turn back towards them, though not walking over to them.

"Soviet made," added Natasha, causing Maria's anger to slowly turn into curiosity as she walked over to them again, her eyes once again landing on Fury.

However, this time, she didn't feel angry when she saw Fury and this did cause her relief. Instead, she felt a sudden weight press against her chest as she watched Fury's still body on the cot with doctors running all around him.

"Yeah," replied Hill, looking at Natasha with a surprised look on her face.

The weight felt heavier as the faint sound of the heartbeat monitor's alarm starting to blare was heard through the glass, the doctors suddenly panicking. His heart had stopped.

Maria closed her eyes, lowering her head.

"Don't do this to me, Nick," whispered Natasha quietly.

When Maria opened her eyes again, hearing Natasha whisper words in Russian to herself, she saw the doctors looking at Fury, saying solemn words to each other. Her heart dropped when she understood what it meant and the familiar pressure behind her eyes appeared, tears filling her eyes in the process. Steve walked away, leaving the three women there. Hill followed suit while Natasha and Maria stayed put.

"I'm sorry," whispered Maria to Natasha who didn't react to her words.

She stayed put for a couple more seconds before copying Steve and Hill and exiting the dark room, leaving Natasha alone. She saw Steve standing a little way off, leaning against the wall. As Maria walked over to him, she felt the USB poke her from where it rested in her back pocket.

"I need to talk to you," said Maria as she walked past Steve and into a small, currently empty, office.

Steve entered only seconds later with a confused look on his face. When she closed the door behind him and turned to him, she grabbed the USB from her pocket and showed it to him. In silence, Steve grabbed it from her hand and inspected it. Whether he knew what it was or not didn't matter at the moment.

"He gave it to me," she said. "With the words, _don't trust anyone._ "

Steve glanced over at her, pursing his lips slightly and shifting on his feet. "What's on it?"

"I don't know. Can be anything. Information. Something traceable. Something that can tell whoever's infiltrated SHIELD about where we are; anything," said Maria before sighing. "The point is, he wants us to take care of it. He didn't give it to SHIELD. So-"

"Something's up," he finished for her, nodding his head. "We need a plan."

"Someone's gonna want to talk to you. Fury was found in your apartment," said Maria. "Keeping away from SHIELD is not an option. If _that_ is what they do when they think you've found out whatever secret there is to find out, then we can't risk it."

"I agree," said Steve, clutching the USB in his hand. "And if something happens to us when we do have to visit SHIELD… we can't be carrying this around."

"The apartment is not an option," said Maria, shaking her head.

Steve shook his head again, looking around the small room, his mind clearly trying to come up with a solution to where they could hide it.

"Can't give it to someone either," said Steve, looking back at her. "Can't trust them yet."

With a sigh Maria took the USB from Steve again, holding it up between them. "We need to keep it somewhere where they wouldn't search for it."

"Somewhere not too safe since they'll search there first," said Steve.

"Stark?" asked Maria, rolling her eyes at the pointed look Steve gave her. "He can be trusted. He doesn't work for SHIELD."

"Yeah, but SHIELD's compromised. He might be working for them," said Steve.

Although Maria didn't believe that at all, she also knew that it wouldn't work shipping it off to Stark since he lived all the way over in New York. It would be too dangerous and, knowing Tony, he'd start snooping. No, what they needed was a place that was open enough for no one to look yet still not open enough for anyone to see it.

"I know," said Maria before sighing and shaking her head. It was a stupid idea. "No, it's stupid."

"Tell me," said Steve.

"The vending machine out there is broken," said Maria. "Could give us a hiding spot until at least tomorrow."

"It's stupid," scoffed Steve. "But it'll work."

Walking out of the room again, Steve and Maria quickly went through with their plan of hiding the USB when no one was near. It was easy since the man repairing it had simply left the glass door open so that Steve and Maria could hide the USB behind a couple of bubble gum packs. Only seconds after they had done this, Rumlow walked over to them.

"Captain Rogers, agent Dalton," he said, making the both of them look over at him. "They want you back at SHIELD."

"Okay," said Steve, nodding his head.

Rumlow stayed put for a few seconds before nodding his head and turning around.

"Suits on," whispered Maria to Steve, earning a nod from him before he grabbed her hand.

"We'll get through this."

"Together," she finished, nodding her head and squeezing his hand.

* * *

"Together my ass," mumbled Maria as she stood outside of the SHIELD building, impatiently waiting for Steve to finish with the meeting.

In the very last minute, Steve had told her to wait outside and since Steve was being led away by a couple of SHELD agents, seeming to think that Steve couldn't find his way around SHIELD anymore, she hadn't had the opportunity to argue against his decision. Instead, she had simply glared at the back of his head, knowing that this had been his plan all along since he still didn't quite approve of her being in danger.

Sitting down on a park bench, she took out her phone from her pocket. Her mind was still on Fury's last words to her and her heart was still saddened by his passing. Though she had to stay strong for now since something was wrong and they had to figure out what that was first before letting themselves mourn Fury. Slowly, she scrolled down her contact list, passing by Clint's name, knowing that he was taking a break at the moment and not wanting to disturb him. She stopped scrolling when the name Martin showed up and she wondered briefly what people she actually could trust. She knew she could trust Steve and Clint. And although Steve wasn't sure about Natasha at the moment, Maria knew deep down that Natasha was on Fury's side and no one else's. At least, that was what Maria hoped.

With a single press to Martin's name, her phone started to dial his number and she pressed the phone to her ear. With her free hand, she fumbled with the fabric of a hoodie that she had put on over her suit, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself even though she was still showing off the bottom part of her leather suit. To others, it simply looked like leather trousers, though the boots were most likely going to attract attention to her. In the pocket of her hoodie, she had placed her domino mask along with one of her daggers. That one dagger was the only thing she could carry around out in public without drawing attention to her. Her actual sword was still at Steve's apartment.

 _"Yeah?"_ Martin had picked up the phone and immediately, Maria recognized the distressed tone to his voice.

"Martin, it's me Maria," she said. "You okay?"

 _"No! I can't get back into my SHIELD account! I've tried everything, changing the password, changing emails… nothing! Hell, I've even turned my computer on and off. It just says that I don't have clearance."_

Maria furrowed her brow. "Where are you?"

 _"At home. Still don't have an office at SHIELD. I have a feeling they don't want me there or something."_

"Martin… something's up," said Maria. "I need you to be careful, okay? Fury's dead and… there's something else going on. Something bad."

 _"Fury's dead!? Oh no… that's not good. That's bad. Like, bad, bad."_

"Stay at home. Don't let anyone in."

 _"What about you? Where are you?"_

"I'm at SHIELD," replied Maria with a sigh, looking over at the building.

 _"Wait… You said something bad was going on… what do you mean?"_

"I don't know yet. But… Fury said SHIELD's been compromise-"

 _"SSH!"_

Maria cocked an eyebrow at the sudden sound coming from Martin's end of the phone; "What?" she asked with annoyance lashed onto her voice from having been interrupted.

 _"They could be listening."_

Maria widened her eyes. He was right. She stayed silent for a while, cursing herself for her own stupidity.

 _"Stay with Steve. Stay safe. Oh, and don't do anything stupid."_

"Too late," said Maria, standing up. "Be careful."

With that, she hung up and started to walk towards the doors of SHIELD. Steve was up there, probably finding out things about what was going on and Maria did not feel like being the one person that didn't do anything to help solve this problem. She wanted to show Steve that she could be in there in the dangerous zone as well without getting hurt. Right before she entered SHIELD's headquarters, she dropped her phone in the bin that was placed outside of the doors, in case someone had indeed hacked her phone. She knew that Tony listened in on her conversations, but she wasn't sure about who else anymore and she didn't like that. Without her phone, she could at least feel a little safer.

She didn't go inside without a plan and a reason. After all, Steve had been right about the fact that the building was dangerous to be in when everyone knew that she and Steve were most likely on Fury's side and that they were potential opponents to whatever was going on. Though in there, there was one man who might know something about all of this and he could give her intel, something they needed badly at the moment.

In there, Artur was locked up. And if there was one man on the planet that had links to everything bad, than it was him.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14, Target B

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 14~  
Target B**

The elevator took her down two levels to where she knew the cells were located. Those cells were used only for keeping prisoners at bay while they were waiting for the next transport that would take them to a high level security prison run by SHIELD. Although Maria didn't know much of that very prison, she knew that it was indeed the one place on Earth where no villain could escape from. Multiple dangerous weapons had been locked up there already and to Maria's knowledge, only a few people.

There was one, long, hallway that led towards the room that held the prisoners. It was a simple hallway, no decorations or other things evident there. The sound of her boots hitting the floor echoed through the hallway and she knew that she alerted the prisoners of her presence. Though she didn't care about that.

Once she entered the room with the cells, she furrowed her brow at the interior. On both sides of the room, three cells existed. The walls of the cells were made out of glass that Maria knew no one could break if they weren't a Norse God. In the doorway leading to the room, there was a lone plant standing in a pot. It was quite a big plant though it felt out of place there. In fact, almost everything in the room felt out of place. Even the grate that Maria walked over when walking towards the cell that held Artur felt out of place since it looked old fashioned compared to the rest of the room that was filled with high tech. Looking down at the grate opening, she saw that it led to a narrow sort of ventilation shaft that was out of use and she wondered why SHIELD had kept it there since it was clearly not doing anything for the prisoners or the agents of SHIELD.

Artur had seen her enter the room and had stood up from the lonely chair that was placed in his cell. The few thugs that had been captured stared at her with annoyed looks though she didn't care about them. Instead, she looked only at Artur, making eye contact the moment they were close enough. She stopped and turned towards him as she arrived at his cell, it being the one furthest away in the room to the right.

"Come to gloat?" asked Artur, breaking the silence in the room.

It was true that Maria had considered doing just that a couple days ago, but that was not why she was there now. Therefore, she shook her head.

"It's nice to see you there, in a cell, Artur. But no, I'm not here for that," replied Maria, locking her hands behind her back. "Fury's dead."

Artur chuckled, looking away from Maria as he did; "Good."

"What do you know?"

Artur furrowed his brow, looking at Maria again and cocking his head to the side.

"What I know? About what?"

"About Fury's death. About why he died and who killed him," said Maria. "And… about who's infiltrated SHIELD."

"You're asking dangerous questions," he said, grinning. "Still as naïve as before, I see. Good."

"Do you know anything?" she pressed, gritting her teeth together.

Artur simply stayed quiet, grinning at her and doing nothing more. His eyes showed hatred and she knew he wasn't going to say anything. Perhaps she had been wrong in thinking he knew something. At least, she had been wrong in thinking that she could make him talk.

"Fine," she said, turning around and starting to walk back again.

"I don't know anything about Fury's death," said Artur suddenly, his voice booming through the room.

Maria stopped in her tracks, turning back around and slowly making her way over to him once more.

"But I know about the infiltration," said Artur, smiling at her with a cocky smile. "You have five minutes." He pointed a finger towards something above her head, and she turned around, widening her eyes as she realized that she hadn't paid enough attention to her surroundings to notice a security camera in the room. "What do you want to know?"

"Who?" she asked quickly, her heart starting to beat faster.

"I can't tell," he said with a shrug.

She clenched her jaw before hitting her fist against the glass, the stress taking over her actions though causing the reaction she had wanted from Artur. She knew him well enough to know that he wasn't going to tell her anything unless he felt like he could get something out of it.

"You're in here meaning, you don't work for them," she said, her face close to the glass. "So, whatever is hindering you from telling me the truth, whether it is threats or promises, know that I will do ten times the harm that they will do to you if you _don't_ tell me. After all, _you_ taught me everything about how to make people _talk_."

It was out of character for her, she knew that, and it felt wrong. But at the same time, it also felt amazingly good to be able to bring forth that side of her again. Adrenaline rushed through her veins and a feeling that she had missed appeared in her chest. A feeling of freedom and strangely enough, joy.

"Haven't lost your touch, I see," said Artur with a smirk. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Give me a name," said Maria silently.

Artur rolled his eyes, taking a step forwards; "Two minutes."

"A name!" exclaimed Maria.

"Hydra."

The name rang through her head. At least, at first she thought it did. But then she realized that the other men in the cells were chanting the name now. "Hail Hydra! Hail Hydra!"

It wasn't until Artur raised a hand that the other men stopped, silence taking over the room again.

"You're in danger," said Artur. "It was stupid of you to come here. They're planning something big. _We're_ planning something big and you're not a part of it. Not being a part of it, means only one thing."

"Death," said Maria, almost in a whisper.

Footsteps were heard out in the hallway and both Artur and Maria turned their heads towards the doorway.

"Leave," said Artur, a new tone having taken over his voice which caused Maria to look at him with confusion written on her face. "LEAVE!"

Worry took over her body though she stayed focused. Running out into the hallway would mean she'd be captured. Though there was no other way for her to take. At least, that was what she first thought until she realized what she was standing on.

The grate.

Quickly she climbed down, pressing herself into the cramped space beneath the floor and silently crawling towards the doorway where the second opening was. If she was lucky, she'd not be noticed by the agents that were running down the hallway.

Once the men entered the room, she was shocked to find that they had only sent three people and although they were armed and still dangerous, Maria couldn't help but feel a little insulted by the fact that they thought three agents was enough to get to Maria.

She recognized one of the men and her heart dropped into her stomach as she did. Miller was standing there, looking around the room with his finger on the trigger, ready to _kill_ her. He was one of them. One of the corrupted. Closing her eyes, she wondered how long Hydra had been a part of SHIELD and how long they had been growing in silence, pretending to be fighting with them when in fact they had been planning this all along.

Realizing the men weren't going to walk away, she knew she'd have to fight her way out of the building. Grabbing her dagger which she had dipped in poison as well, she crawled towards the second opening, grabbing it and posing herself so that she was ready to jump out and attack the three men. Next to the opening, the plant stood and she quickly made up a plan as she saw Miller part from the other two men slightly, giving her the opportunity to make a good plan of attack.

Jumping out of the grate, she grabbed the plant and threw it at the two other men, making them fall backwards and drop their guns. As Miller aimed his gun at her, she quickly threw her dagger at his leg, making him fall over in pain and with the poison entering his bloodstream quickly. As Miller fell down to the floor, unconscious, Maria ran over to the other two men, kicking one of them in the head so that he fell unconscious as well before grabbing the second man's arm, turning him around before twisting his arm and breaking it in multiple places. The agent screamed out in pain, though Maria simply kicked away the guns from the two men's reach before taking out her dagger from Miller's leg, running out of the room afterwards.

She placed the bloody dagger in her hoodie's pocket before entering the elevator, making sure that she didn't look flushed or in any other way like she had just been in a fight, before exiting the elevator again. With calm steps, she made her way towards the exit of the building, the adrenaline keeping her tense and alert of her surroundings. Right before walking through the doors, however, she made sure to flip off the security camera that was following her every move, knowing they were watching her through it.

Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD and she needed to tell Steve. With quick steps, she walked towards the rendezvous point that Steve and Maria had agreed on. However, she never managed to reach it as Steve suddenly fell down in front of her, having fallen from a very high altitude as he made a dent in the cement ground. She placed her hands over her mouth as she jumped backwards, seeing him sit up with a grunt. He had landed on his shield and thanks to the serum, he wouldn't even have broken anything, though it looked as though it still had hurt him. When she looked up at the building, she saw the broken window from which he had jumped, noticing that it was one of the windows through which you could see the amazing view whenever using the elevator.

"Steve!" exclaimed Maria, causing Steve to look up at her.

Quickly, she grabbed his arm and yanked him up from the ground, grabbing his shield and hand before running away with him towards the large gates they'd have to pass before Hydra realized that they were getting away, alive.

"I take it the meeting went well," said Maria as they jogged towards Steve's bike.

"Of course. We had coffee and cookies. It was all very pleasant," said Steve with the same sarcasm as Maria had used.

Maria smirked through quickly grew serious again as she placed the shield on her arm, Steve mounting the bike. Quickly, she joined him on the bike and he quickly sped off, managing to press the bike to the limits so that they just barely made it out through the closing gates…

* * *

Artur let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding as he watched her run outside of the room.

"Boss," said one of his men, earning a look from Artur. "Why'd you tell her?"

He glared at him, making the man cower backwards and sit down again. Though, Artur actually didn't know. It had just sort of happened. Having seen her again had made him… happy. He had nearly drowned in her eyes as she had made eye contact with him for the first time in so long. And when she had turned away from him, he had wanted to see those eyes again. The words had just slipped out of him, but at least he could see her eyes one more time. He had told no lies. Artur knew exactly what was going on. All he hadn't told her were the little details and the plan in general. The security camera didn't record sound, but he knew that him simply talking to her would be enough to get him decapitated. Though, it had been worth it.

Footsteps were heard coming from the hallway and soon, another group of agents entered the room. However, this time, the agents weren't alone. A man in a suit walked up to Artur's cell, a serious and grim look on his face. He knew that man. Everyone knew that man.

Mitch Carson, one of the senior agents of Hydra.

"Where is he?"

Artur furrowed his brow, though quickly understood what he meant.

"I don't know. I haven't spoken with him for two years." This was the first lie he told the very dangerous man before him.

"I don't think that's quite true," said Carson before lifting up his left hand, showing to Artur a picture of Maria as she flipped off the security camera that had taken a picture of her. "Target B escaped a few minutes ago. Did you help her?"

"No." The second lie.

"I like you Artur. You've been a very loyal partner for as long as I can remember. I don't want to do what I should do," said Carson. "But you have to stop lying to us. Otherwise, I can't spare your life."

"I'm not lying to you." Third lie. "I haven't been in contact with him for years and I didn't tell her anything. Why would I when she's my target?"

"You target?" asked Carson, his tone almost making Artur flinch; "Then tell me how you didn't manage to kill Target B even after we'd given you the Winter Soldier to track her down," said Carson before gesturing for his men to open Artur's cell, which they did.

"She's very hard to find." Fourth lie.

"I'm giving you a second chance," said Carson, handing the picture to Artur. "But know that if you fail to kill her again, I will personally make sure it happens. I will make sure that someone puts a bullet through her brain but not before she's been tortured and humiliated. And I don't think you want that to happen to her, do you?"

Artur didn't reply, but simply took the picture from Carson which was enough of an answer for him to turn around and walk away.

As the man who Maria had given a broken arm reached out to Carson in agony and pain, Artur closed his eyes as he heard the words that all Hydra agents feared.

"You're fired," said Carson before a shot echoed through the room. "We don't need your services anymore."

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	15. Chapter 15, Talks and Jealousy

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 15~  
Talks and Jealousy**

"To make a better world, you need to tear the old one down? He actually said that?" asked Maria as she and Steve walked inside of the hospital, civilian clothes on and with quick steps.

They were going to get the USB stick back before, somehow, finding a way to help SHIELD, or at least what was left of it. At the moment, Steve was telling Maria exactly what had happened during the meeting he had gone to and although Maria now felt happy that she hadn't been allowed in, both because it had been quite dangerous and because she now had intel of her own, she still felt a little angered by the fact that Steve hadn't allowed her inside.

"Yes, he did," said Steve, looking over at Maria.

"The worst part is that he actually tried to make you believe that Fury was the bad guy," said Maria, shaking her head softly as they rounded the corner that led them to the hallway with the vending machine.

"The worst part is that he thought he could fool me," said Steve, earning a smirk from Maria.

"Actually, I have some info too." She hadn't told Steve about what she had done yet. She hadn't told Steve about the fact that Hydra was what had infiltrated SHIELD yet either. Though she also knew that if she had said it earlier, he would've been distracted and they wouldn't have gotten to the vending machine as quickly as they did now. After all, Steve did have quite a horrible history with Hydra and she was unsure of how he was going to react.

"What?" he asked softly as the stopped in front of the vending machine, his eyes gazing at her.

She swallowed once and was about to tell him everything, when Steve's eyes looked over at the vending machine and his face darkened.

"What?" she asked this time, though her voice was filled with worry.

As she looked inside of the vending machine, she saw that the USB stick was gone along with all the gum that they had left in front of it. They hadn't been gone for longer than three hours yet still, people had bought the bad-tasting gum enough for someone to steal the USB. She was about to curse, when she saw the reflection of a woman standing behind Steve and Maria, chewing bubble gum. Maria immediately recognized the woman as Natasha and relief flooded through her veins, knowing that she had been the one to take the USB stick which meant it was safe and not gone. However, as Maria turned around with a smirk on her lips, Steve grabbed Natasha's arms and pushed her backwards inside of the small office that Maria and Steve had been in earlier that day, trying to come up with a plan of action.

Maria gasped at his response, looking around to see if anyone had noticed it, before following the two of them inside, closing the door behind her. She watched carefully as Steve held Natasha in place against the wall, the captain himself standing dangerously close to her. As she stood there, a few feet away from them, watching Steve and Natasha stand that close to each other, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy arise in her chest. For a moment, she thought back on her time with Artur and how she had found him in the arms of the only other woman that was a part of their group. On multiple occasions, Maria had found Artur and that other woman standing just as close as Steve and Nat were doing now, though back then she had dismissed it and thought nothing of it. After her last heartbreak though, she felt more alert on any kind of signals that indicated that Steve was losing interest in her. This only caused her to worry and she hated it, knowing that Steve was a good enough man to never hurt her in that way.

"Where is it?" asked Steve darkly.

"Safe," she replied.

"It better be," said Maria, taking a step forwards.

"Where did you get it?" asked Natasha, her eyes staying only at Steve.

"Why would we tell you?" asked Steve.

"Fury gave it to you, why?" asked Natasha, having deduced this only by looking at Steve's face.

The fact that Natasha could see exactly when Steve was lying and Maria still struggled with this, only meant that they had been around each other more than Maria and Steve had. It once again hurt her though she stayed focused, knowing they were on a mission.

"What's on it?" he asked.

"I don't know!"

"Don't lie," said Maria, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Really, I don't know. I only act like I know everything," said Natasha back, her eyes still lingering on Steve.

"Did Fury hire those pirates?" asked Steve.

"Well, it would make sense. Fury needed a way in and so did you-"

"I'm not going to ask you again," said Steve harshly, Natasha's eyes finally flickering over to Maria as well.

"I know who killed Fury," said Natasha suddenly, causing Maria to widen her eyes, taking another step forwards, placing her hand on Steve's arm to make him let go of Natasha.

"Who?" asked Maria.

"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years," said Natasha.

"So, he's a ghost story," said Steve, more like a question than a statement.

"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tyres near Odessa, we lost control; went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him, straight through me. Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now," said Steve, striking a nerve inside of Maria, causing her to push Steve to the side and taking his place in front of Natasha, her brows furrowed in anger.

"How do we find him?"

"The Winter Soldier?" asked Natasha with a scoff. "You can't. Going after him is a dead-end. I know because I've tried."

Although Maria didn't look over at Steve, she knew he'd given her a puzzled look with the way she had acted. She didn't care though. All she cared about was keeping Steve by _her_ side. She wasn't losing the one thing in her life that was actually good.

"Like Steve said, he's a ghost story," continued Natasha, pulling out the USB stick from her pocket and holding it out in front of Maria's face.

Slowly, Maria grabbed it from her, placing it in her bra to which Natasha rose an eyebrow at her, smirking slightly as if she enjoyed what she had just seen. Maria simply rolled her eyes, suddenly realizing that Natasha was simply a flirt by nature. Though Steve did not have that excuse. At times when Maria kissed him out of the blue, he'd still blush.

"Let's find out what the ghost wants," said Steve, Maria looking over at him and seeing him standing next to her with a serious look on his face.

"Wait," said Maria, taking a step away from Natasha and pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "It doesn't make sense. If the Winter Soldier was the man on the roof that Steve tried to catch and if Hydra is the ones who have infiltrated SHIELD-"

"What now?" asked Steve, causing Maria to look at him, suddenly realizing she still hadn't told him.

"Shit… I never told you," she said, her eyes widening slightly. "I-I went down to Artur-"

"You did what?" asked Steve, his voice harsh, causing Maria to flinch.

It reminded her of the scene before Maria had gone away on the mission to capture Artur, where Steve hadn't wanted her to tag along. There was something in his voice that reminded her of that moment and she didn't like it.

"He told me that he was Hydra… and that they were the ones who were corrupting SHIELD. The ones that already have corrupted SHIELD. They came after me, hence why I met you after your little stunt," said Maria, forcing herself to continue looking into his eyes even though she saw the fact that he felt betrayed by her going against his orders and the fact that she had put herself in that kind of danger. Though there was something else as well, something that was causing a different kind of emotion and she didn't like it, whatever it was.

"Hydra… you worked for Hydra."

The sentence made Maria finally look away from Steve, her chest filling with hurt. She didn't work for Hydra anymore, yet he still had to point it out. Not only had he done that, but his voice had almost sounded disgusted.

"How come you didn't tell me that earlier?" asked Steve, taking a step forwards.

"I was going to, but then Nat turned up-"

"Oi, don't drag me into this," said Natasha, holding up her hands in the air and leaning back against the wall.

"You know what, never mind," said Steve, waving his hand as if trying to dismiss the conversation with it. "I don't even want to hear it."

She knew that Steve didn't like when people lied to him and although she hadn't completely lied to him, she knew that there was no way he was going to listen to her now since he most certainly was in shock about the fact that _Hydra_ still existed even after he had dealt with the Red Skull. Therefore, she let it be, trying her best to ignore the pain in her heart when Steve looked away from her and back at Natasha.

"We need to know what's on that USB," said Steve, earning a nod from Natasha.

"Meaning we need a computer," said Natasha.

" _Meaning_ we'll give away our location," said Maria, crossing her arms over her chest, remembering what Martin had said about SHIELD listening in on her phone. If they could do that, then she was sure that they could listen in on every single active phone, computer and more.

"But we'll have a minute or two to look at the contents," said Natasha, earning a nod from Maria.

"All we need is a place where we can quickly get away," said Steve, still not looking at Maria.

"What like the library? They have computers there," said Maria, earning a shake of Natasha's head.

"We need a place with more people. Somewhere where one can blend in with the crowd afterwards," replied Natasha.

"The mall," said Steve.

"The Apple store," finished Maria with a nod of her head before the three of them turned towards the door and walked out.

* * *

With their civilian clothes on and serious looks plastered on their faces, Natasha, Steve and Maria walked inside the mall. It was crowded inside, just like they had wanted, and they didn't stick out of the crowd either due to their civilian clothes which was exactly according to their plan. After a few seconds, Maria found herself walking behind Steve and Natasha, the two of them walking much faster than her. As she tried to fasten her pace so that she could walk beside Steve, she found that he deliberately moved away from her which only made her heart sink. She had known that Steve's reaction to the truth of who she had worked for would be unpleasant, though she hadn't thought it would affect him as much as it apparently did. After all, she hadn't known she had worked for Hydra, and he knew that.

They entered the shop quickly and she let herself simply follow behind Steve and Natasha, feeling as though she wasn't welcomed into the group anymore. As they walked up to a laptop, she found herself standing there, not doing much and simply thinking about those who she cared about, wondering what they were doing. Matt was probably not affected by this, simply working at his office, waiting for a client. Martin and Clint were the ones Maria felt worried about. She knew Clint had left for some time off from SHIELD, though she didn't know where or if Hydra knew where. If they did, then Clint would be in trouble and there was no way for her to find out if he was. Martin knew of it and was probably busy with going underground. She wondered briefly where he was though realized it was better that she didn't know since Hydra was following her and Steve – Natasha probably too by now – and she would risk Martin's safety if she knew where he was.

"The drive has a level 6 homing program, so as soon as we boot up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are," said Natasha as they stood in front of one of the computers that were there for usage.

Maria watched with curious eyes as Natasha lifted her hand over to Maria, looking at her with expectant eyes. Quickly, realizing what Natasha meant, Maria took out the USB from her pocket and handed it to her, leaning forwards slightly as she did and accidentally brushing her arm against Steve's. He didn't react to it, though she could see his jaw clench and so, she moved so that she was standing next to Natasha instead.

"How much time will we have?" asked Steve as Natasha prepared to put the USB into the computer.

"About nine minutes from now," said Natasha as she inserted the USB stick into the computer, a program immediately starting.

* * *

A stern look was plastered on Artur's face as he drove the black jeep towards the location of the signal. The moment SHIELD had registered the fact that someone was using the USB, Artur and his new team had taken off, weapons in their hands and a determined aura around them. They were ready to do whatever it takes to stop those three fugitives and if that meant shooting at them or killing them, then that would just have to be.

His heart was thumping harshly in his chest, a nervous sweat starting to break out on his forehead. Everything was going wrong. His boss was going to be mad at him the moment he realized what he was doing. If target B became neutralized, Artur might gain the trust of this part of Hydra. But he'd lose the trust of the side of Hydra he was on. Not to mention that he'd lose Maria.

He shifted slightly in his seat, realizing that his hands were leaving traces of sweat on the steering wheel. He hoped that no one would notice his nervousness, though he was sure they would.

"If you're lucky, target B won't have to be neutralized. And if you're even more lucky, someone else will take the shot for you," said Rumlow from where he was sitting next to Artur, his gaze staring out through the window though it was evident he had picked up on Artur's distress.

Artur didn't reply, but simply continued driving, putting his foot down even harder on the gas and speeding up. He wasn't going to die. He wasn't going to fail Hydra. But he also wasn't going to fail his boss.

* * *

"Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something," said Natasha, earning a furrowed brow from Maria even though she had figured out that their recent mission, the one on which Steve had become angry with Natasha and Fury for having lied to him, had to do with some sort of a hijacked ship. "This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."

"Can you override it?" asked Maria, suddenly wishing they had Martin with them.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me," said Natasha before smirking, glancing over at Maria; " _Slightly_. I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

"Can I help you guys with anything?" asked a man who suddenly appeared next to Steve.

He was a funny looking guy with a blue shirt on, long hair and a beard. He looked kind and Maria was just about to say that they didn't need any help in an as polite way as possible, when Natasha suddenly placed her arm around Steve's shoulders, smiling widely at the man.

"Oh, no, my fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations," said Natasha, Maria's kind smile dropping and her heart nearly breaking in two.

"Right, we're getting married," said Steve awkwardly, seeming not to know what to do.

Maria's eyes widened, not believing her ears and although she knew it was just for show, it hurt badly. She felt like falling to the ground and cry, though composed herself, telling herself that it wasn't the right time to become emotional yet. When the laptop beeped, she blinked a couple of times before realizing the program Natasha had started had tracked down the location of the file.

"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?" asked the man, looking over at the screen and seeing the location, his smile fading slightly.

"Um, New Jersey," said Steve, seeing the location on the screen as well and almost frowning since it didn't add up with their story that they had just made up.

Maria wanted to laugh, though she felt too nervous to do so. If they stood out too much or if the guy kept them for too long, they'd be exposed and SHIELD would be able to find them. After all, five out of nine minutes had already passed.

"Oh," said the man before the smile returned as he looked at Steve. "I have the exact same glasses."

"Wow, you two are practically twins," said Natasha sarcastically, turning back to the laptop.

"Yeah, I wish. Specimen," said the man, gesturing towards Steve's body.

Steve licked his lips nervously, seeming to even slightly blush at the man's words and although she hated it, Maria felt her heart warm up at the familiar, innocent look on his face.

"Well, if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron," said the man, pointing towards his name tag before leaving the three of them alone, his eyes staying on Maria a little longer than necessary.

While Natasha continued to fiddle with the laptop, Steve and Maria's eyes met. She could see a pang of jealousy in his eyes at the way Aaron had looked at her, though she was sure he could see the hurt in her eyes which only made him look away from her and down at his feet.

"Nine minutes are almost over," said Maria, looking away from Steve.

"Relax," said Natasha before smiling widely. "I've got it."

Both Maria and Steve looked at the screen, seeing the coordinates and a red dot on a map. She nodded her head, looking over at Natasha who in turn was looking at Steve. Maria noticed the look on his face, knowing he was seeing something that he recognized as his face fell into that look only Steve could have. A look of both sadness and happiness at the same time, as if the memory was a good one, though one that happened so long ago that it hurt him to even think about it. Most certainly, that was a memory from his time during the war. Maybe even before he became Captain America.

"You know it?" asked Natasha, earning a nod from Steve.

"I used to. Let's go," said Steve, Maria quickly grabbing the USB and unplugging it from the laptop before placing it back in her pocket.

* * *

"Standard Tac team," ordered Rumlow as they stood by the entrance of the mall. "Two behind, two across," he continued, pointing at each pair while saying the orders before turning to Artur. "You take the second floor, we'll meet up by the escalators again, got it?"

Artur nodded his head as did everyone else. He was dressed in black and a weapon was resting in his hands. Although he felt rather macho, he didn't feel like going in there, knowing that Maria was there and that if he saw her, he had to stop her; kill her even if that was necessary.

* * *

"Standard Tac team… Rumlow's with them," said Steve quietly as they walked through the mall towards the exit. They had already noticed the SHIELD agents walking amongst the crowd and Maria felt just as nervous as Steve _looked_. "If they make us, I'll engage, you two hit the south escalator to the metro."

"Shut up and put your arm around me," said Natasha, linking her arm with Maria's, pushing her closer. Maria realized what Natasha had seen and she quickly put on a fake smile. Rumlow was walking towards them and they had to act naturally in order to blend in with the crowd. "Laugh at something I said."

"What?" asked Steve.

"Do it," hissed Maria.

Right as Rumlow walked past, his eyes looking over at them, Steve did as he was told, letting out a dry yet reasonably normal laugh.

* * *

 _"Negative on source,"_ said a voice through Artur's earpiece.

He stopped walking, leaning his elbows on the railing of the second floor, his eyes looking down at the first floor like a hawk.

 _"Give me a floor rundown,"_ ordered Rumlow's voice.

 _"Negative on three."_

Artur placed his finger on the earpiece; "Negative on two."

Although he hadn't been searching thoroughly, he also hadn't seen them. He was quite sure that they were long gone already. At least, he was until he saw Maria's familiar face on the escalator leading down to the first floor. He watched with wide eyes as she stared at him and although he had his gun ready in his back pocket, he couldn't move. He couldn't do it.

Instead, he placed his finger over his lips before gesturing to her to keep walking. She softly nodded her head, though Artur could see her tense up as she looked back at the two people whom she was with. There, standing before her on the escalator, Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers were kissing each other.

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	16. Chapter 16, Still Working On It

**This is kind of a filler chapter since I really needed Maria to bond with Natasha because of future plots. Besides, I thought that Maria and Steve needed a moment since they hadn't had that in a while and because everything is going downhill for them at the moment :P I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 16~  
Still working on it**

They made their way towards the multi-storey car park belonging to the mall, all three of them walking in silence. Natasha led the way while Steve and Maria walked slightly behind her. Neither of them looked at each other and as Maria spotted a vehicle they could use, she simply walked over to it, saying nothing to the others.

"What are you doing?" asked Natasha, stopping and causing Steve to look over at Maria as well.

"New Jersey," said Maria as she took out her dagger from her pockets; "It's a long way to walk."

"I was assuming you guys had a vehicle somewhere," said Natasha as she and Steve made their way over to Maria.

"Even if we had, they'd know what it looks like," said Maria, forcing the dagger in between the window and the car door, easily unlocking it.

Luckily, the truck owner didn't have an alarm installed and therefore, it all happened without them drawing attention to themselves. She sat down behind the wheel, seeing that the car had a somewhat more advanced system in which a key would not be necessary to start the car. However, it didn't matter to Maria as she simply let herself glide down so that she was underneath the wheel before using her dagger to open up the interior, starting to reroute some cables in order to be able to turn the engines on; using a trick Artur had showed her a long time ago.

As most thugs who worked for Artur, Maria had once needed to prove to him that she could be a part of his crew. Her "opening ceremony" had not only consisted of simple, but also a very particular thing that Artur had wanted her to do. She had been forced to climb over the fence to a very rich looking house, steal one of their million dollar cars and drive off with it. She had succeeded even though the alarm had gone off in the car. Whoever had lived in that expensive house had been too slow to stop her.

When the engines roared to life, Maria smirked and sat up straight again before exiting the pickup truck.

"I ain't driving," she said simply, pushing past Steve and sitting down in the back of the pickup truck, throwing the door shut behind her.

She wasn't mad, in fact, she was anything but mad. Her heart was breaking in two and she didn't know what to do about it. Steve hadn't said anything about the kiss between him and Natasha and neither had Nat. Although she knew she probably should be furious at the both of them, she just couldn't find the strength to be just that at the moment. Instead, a strange numbness took over her body and as Steve and Natasha entered the pickup truck, she let her head fall against the window. The memories of what Steve and Maria had been a few days ago played in front of her eyes and even though she fought against it, her eyes filled with tears, blocking out the real world even more.

Only days ago, Steve had held Maria's hand and told her that she was the only thing in his life that made him happy. Only days ago, they had said that they loved each other. And now, all of that was ruined. All Maria had had was gone. Instead, Steve had Natasha now. He had moved on, just as Maria had feared he would've done.

From the rear view mirror, Steve continuously glanced back at Maria while still trying to seem like he was indeed only concentrating on the road as he drove the three of them towards the location of the signal. He knew it would take a long time and so, he was prepared to have to stay in the tense atmosphere for so long as well. He wasn't sure of what he had done wrong when Maria had started to act odd towards him, though he was sure that whatever it was, she had long since forgotten it after what had happened earlier in the mall.

Of course, he had been completely in shock after what Maria had told him. Hydra still existed. He basically gave up his life to stop Hydra from thriving yet still, they continued to exist. Not only that, but his girlfriend had worked for them. His girlfriend had even been traumatically hurt by them; hurt in ways he could not fix. A broken heart, a broken mind even, he knew he could fix with a little effort. But a broken body and a broken dream; he could not fix. He had pictured her with children many times even though they had only been together for two years. He had even drawn a couple of pictures of his fantasies; though he knew that, thanks to Hydra, he could never give her that. She could never have _that_ life.

Of course, these were no actual reasons or excuses for what he had done and although he knew that he wasn't the one who had been flirting or _kissing_ , he had still consented to it. Hell, he had even enjoyed Natasha's kiss and he almost had wanted to burn his own lips because of that. Maria was the woman he wanted to be with and not Natasha, though how was he supposed to show her that? How was he supposed to apologize because of what he had done?

* * *

Two hours into their journey, they had stopped by a small gasoline station next to the road. About an hour was left though the truck needed gas and all three heroes were both hungry and thirsty. Maria found herself simply sitting in the truck with the door open, occasional gusts of wind brushing against her face. The numbness she felt caused for her to feel unmotivated to even move; a feeling she recognized from earlier in her life when Artur had done the same thing to her. She had laid in Matt's bed for an entire week, doing absolutely nothing. When Matt finally forced her to stand up and get a shower, she had felt awful. She had lost weight and her face was paler than ever. It hadn't been 'till after Matt had taken her down to the local boxing place he used to go to, that she had felt better, having beaten Matt twice - even though he was letting her win. However, this time, there was no Matt to comfort her. Even worse was that they were on a mission; a very important mission; and Maria truly needed to stay focused.

Steve was the first one to arrive back from the store, a bag of crisps in his hand and two bottles of water. He walked over to Maria's open door, standing there awkwardly for a while, seeming to think twice about whether or not he should say something. In the end, he decided not to and simply handed Maria a bottle of water.

She glanced at the water, feeling her mouth dry up even more when she saw the water she so dearly wanted. Though, as her eyes landed on the fingers holding the bottle, she imagined them holding her hand instead, even touching her cheek and the pain that it caused her made her look away from both Steve and the water, feeling tears start to appear in her eyes again. If she showed him how heartbroken she really was, she'd look weak and she didn't want that.

"Take it," said Steve with a sigh. "Refusing water isn't going to mend our relationship."

"So you agree that we have problems," she hissed back, glaring over at Steve who, for a few seconds, looked at a loss for words. She had even surprised herself with the way she talked though tried to not show it; "Good."

"I'm sorry-"

"Save it," said Maria quietly, softly grabbing the water from him and opening it, lifting the bottle to her lips and sipping some of it, wetting her lips and dry tongue. "There's no point."

"No point in what?" asked Steve quietly, his voice breaking in the middle, earning a look from Maria.

He hadn't looked emotional, though Maria could clearly see in his eyes that he was. She had known him long enough to know that all his emotions were always seen in his beautiful blue eyes.

"You've moved on. You don't need me anymore," said Maria quietly. "I get it."

"No, you don't-"

"Really, I do," said Maria, feeling surprised that she wasn't tearing up as she said it. All she felt, was her heart racing. "I love you, Steve. But if you feel like Natasha is a better op-"

"Stop it," said Steve harshly, suddenly having crouched down to be on the same eyelevel as her. "Just, stop it. I understand that you feel like that, really I do. But all that the kiss meant, was that we'd not be spotted by Rumlow. I-I understand if you can't really look at me at the moment and I understand that your angry, but that really is the truth. I know, I shouldn't have agreed to it, but what would you have wanted me to do? Reject her kiss and draw attention to us? We could've been dead if that had happened…"

Maria suddenly felt bad about her own feelings. What he was telling her made sense. After all, rejecting a kiss wouldn't have made them blend in since people become _curious_ when that happens. On the other hand, when two people are kissing, people tend to not want to look since it's something private that makes most people uncomfortable.

"I'm not mad…" said Maria quietly as she stared into Steve's icy blue eyes, her eyes filling with tears again. "You know what happened between me and Artur…"

Steve tensed at the name though still nodded.

"You know what he did to me… I just – it hit hard. I'm sorry," said Maria, making Steve shake his head.

"You have nothing to apologize for," said Steve, lifting his hand so it was cupping her cheek, his thumb wiping away a stray tear that she hadn't even noticed had escaped her eye. "It was a logical response."

His lips curled up into that cute half-smile that Maria loved, his eyes hopeful as she didn't flinch away from him. However, she didn't smile back. She still had one last thing to ask him, one last thing to discuss with him.

"I didn't know it was Hydra who I was working for."

Steve's smile faded and he retrieved his hand, nodding his head slightly as his gaze locked onto the ground beneath him. He pursed his lips slightly and Maria watched him carefully, not being able to see what he was thinking about and so, not knowing what his response would be.

"Sorry," said Natasha as she appeared behind Steve, causing Maria to look over at her, Steve doing the same. "Am I interrupting something?"

Although she looked unfazed by the fact that she had interrupted, she did look at Maria with a sympathetic look as Steve quickly stood up and rounded the car, walking towards the driver's seat. As Maria simply looked at her with a monotone face, Natasha lowered her gaze and entered the car. Although Steve had apologized and although Maria understood why the kiss had happened, she couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed with Natasha. Hopefully, they'd have some time to talk since Maria didn't want to spend the entire mission with an awkward tension between Natasha and herself. Maria knew that she could never become close friends with Natasha since Maria found that her attitude reminded her of her mother's, something that made it impossible for Maria to ever come close to Natasha. Which she hated since they were on the same team and on the same side. Though, Maria couldn't do much about her childhood trauma. All she could do was try and over-win it as best as she could.

Not only did Maria feel annoyed with Natasha, but she also felt as though it still bugged Steve that Maria had been working for Hydra. He had never really got the time to response to that or tell her what he felt about the whole ordeal and it worried her that that very detail from her past would keep the two of them apart if they didn't talk about it soon.

* * *

"Is it any point to ask where you learnt to steal cars?" asked Natasha, causing Maria to look up, understanding that she was talking to her.

They had been driving in awkward silence for almost half an hour now and it was starting to grow tiresome. Maria understood that Natasha was simply trying to make the choking silence disappear, though she didn't quite enjoy the question.

"Guess three times," replied Maria simply, earning a scoff from Natasha, an amused smile growing on her lips.

"I was ten," said Natasha, causing both Steve and Maria to glance over at her with wondering looks on their faces. "When I stole my first car. They didn't really look the same though."

"Sixteen," said Maria quietly, earning a nod from Natasha.

"We're not stealing… we're borrowing this car and then returning it," said Steve, earning a look from Natasha before she placed her feet on the dashboard, smirking at the annoyed look Steve flashed at her.

"I was sixteen when I ruined my first relationship," continued Natasha, her voice still sounding as nonchalant as always though her face slowly turned into a saddened look. "It was supposed to happen though. It was my mission."

Maria looked out through the window, not wanting to be a part of the conversation anymore.

"You know, I never intended on being so… forward," said Natasha, both Steve and Maria staying silent; "But you can't really blame me for being that either. Trying to become part of the group is hard when it comes to the two of you. I lied to Steve, breaking his trust and Maria's distanced herself from me since the beginning. What did you want me to do?"

"Be you," said Steve quietly. "That's all it would've taken."

"I don't really know who _I_ am anymore," said Natasha quietly. "Usually, I just make a personality up, try to be something that'll fit in with whatever mission I am on. This is different. Fury's gone and I have no one to give me directions on what to be."

"How about a friend to us?" asked Steve, Maria glancing over at the back of Natasha's head again.

"Now that's something I can do," said Natasha, a soft smile appearing on Maria's lips.

"Being yourself comes to you naturally. The small impulses you have, the thoughts you have… they're all you," said Maria. "I know it's hard to be your own person. Especially if you've lived all your life being someone that others want you to be. But I found myself and I know you can do that too."

Natasha turned around in her seat, letting her feet fall down from the dashboard as she did. Steve glanced at the two women through the rear view mirror, watching as Natasha looked at Maria for a long time before opening her mouth: "How long did it take for you?"

Leaning forwards slightly in her seat, Maria suddenly felt as though Natasha wasn't like her mother at all; the attitude was just something that existed for her to shield her true self and now that Maria was seeing the actual Natasha; a lost woman mush like herself, a small space was reserved for Nat in her heart. She smiled at Natasha, a sad and sympathetic smile before she answered with a sigh:

"I'm still working on it."

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	17. Chapter 17, Zola

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 17~  
Zola  
**

"Here it is," said Natasha as she exited the car, her eyes scanning the area they had just arrived at.

The sun was setting, making the sky a beautiful orange color and the last sunrays shone down over the abandoned facility. From the way the buildings looked, Maria deduced that it was an old fashioned military base; long abandoned and never really reused since the day they decided to stop using it. It was positioned in the middle of nowhere and didn't bother anyone, though Maria still wondered why no one had decided to deal with it. Normally they'd build something new on land that had been used a long time ago; new houses or a mall of some sorts. However, this place hadn't been touched at all from the looks of it.

As she exited the car, Steve turned the engines off and did the same as her. He followed the two women as they walked over towards the closed fence, the three of them stopping in front of it.

"The file came from these coordinates," said Natasha.

"So did I," said Steve quietly, earning a look from Maria.

On the fence, the name Camp Leigh could be read and as Natasha walked over to the fence, starting to mess with the lock in order to open it, Maria stared at Steve, noticing how his eyes glazed over with an emotion she had seen far too many times. She almost immediately understood that this was the place where he had been training before he became Captain America and although she felt hesitant to do it, she grabbed his hand that wasn't holding his shield. He looked at her, seemingly surprised that she was touching him, though still squeezed her hand, the muscle in his jaw jumping slightly as he bit down his emotions, taking a deep breath.

As Natasha managed to open the gate, the three heroes entered, all of them looking around at their surroundings with curious eyes. All, except for Steve who seemed to be reliving memory after memory in his mind. They all searched the area, trying to find something that looked out of place. However, they couldn't find anything and since the daylight soon would be over, Maria started to give up on the only lead they had.

Using her sleeve, she wiped away some of the dirt from one of the windows on the larger building, glancing inside and seeing absolutely nothing. Not because of the darkness, but because there truly was absolutely nothing in the room to see. No furniture, no abandoned stuff; nothing. All she could see was a rat running across the room before hiding in a small hole in the floor and therefore, Maria sighed again and turned back towards Steve and Natasha.

She was positive they weren't going to find anything and after the long ride and the emotional day she had had, all she wanted to do was find a motel and go to bed; hide under the covers and escape the real world for a while. However, the look on Steve's face made her hesitate in starting to complain. His eyes still held the glazed-over look they had had before and she slowly approached him as he stood there, looking out into the nothingness in front of him.

"You okay?" asked Maria.

"This camp is where I was trained," said Steve, looking over at his friends.

"Well… does anything look out of place to you?" asked Maria.

Steve shook his head before suddenly tensing, a frown appearing on his face as his eyes caught sight of something. Hope filled Maria again as she walked over to him; "What?"

"Armory regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks," said Steve as he started to walk towards one of the smaller buildings.

Natasha and Maria both shared a look before following him, Steve continuing to talk.

"This building is in the wrong place," said Steve, stopping in front of the building and glancing back at the two women following him.

With a sigh, Steve used his shield to crack open the lock on the door before easily opening the seemingly heavy, metal doors, Natasha and Maria continuing to follow him inside. There was a flight of stairs down to a lower level and as Steve started to descend down, she followed him without hesitating while Natasha lingered behind, scanning the first room with her eyes first before following as well. The upper floor had been filled with ammunition and crates filled with unknown things and although Maria had wanted to check it out, she knew that the ammunition wasn't the thing they were after.

The three heroes found themselves in complete darkness as they arrived downstairs, however Steve seemed to know exactly what to do and he had quickly found the light switch in the complete darkness. Slowly, the lights were turned on, enlightening the entire room that was down there. Maria took in the sight of the multiple desks and old typing machines before them, the smell of old books suddenly entering her nostrils.

"This is SHIELD," said Natasha, having noticed the logo at the far end wall first out of the three heroes.

"Maybe where it started," said Steve as the three of them started to walk down the room, their eyes scanning everything there was to see.

"Let's fan out, search through this place," said Maria, earning a nod from both Steve and Natasha.

Maria walked towards the far end of the room, having seen a door there which had spiked her curiosity. While Natasha and Steve both went their separate ways as well, Maria turned the doorknob slowly before entering the room on the other side of the door. She peeked inside first, the dim light making it hard on her to see properly which made her cautious as she didn't want to run into some enemy or a cobweb. She hated those things.

The room was filled with bookshelves and a couple more desks, all of them empty in comparison to the others in the first room. Most books had been taken from the bookshelves as well and she wondered if they had been taken by the owners or by looters. However, she doubted that it was the last option since there had been a functioning lock on the front door.

On the wall closest to Maria, three paintings were hanging. She recognized the faces of two of the people; Howard Stark and Peggy Carter – the founders of SHIELD. Even though it confused her why SHIELD had chosen this place to operate in, she didn't linger on that question as she never really had gotten SHIELD's logic anyway.

Maria turned away from the paintings and continued to walk on, hearing Steve and Natasha enter the room as well. She frowned as she passed completely empty bookshelves covered in dust and cobwebs, her body tensing as her eyes suddenly started to search for spiders she could avoid.

"And there's Stark's father," said Natasha's voice, the two of them having found the paintings as well.

"Howard," said Steve's voice.

Maria made a disgusted gesture towards a small spider placed on a bookshelf to her left and when the spider moved, catching her off guard, she jumped slightly, accidentally bumping her arm against the bookshelf to her right.

"Who's the girl?" asked Natasha's voice.

Maria rubbed her arm where she had hit it, glaring at the bookshelf standing against the wall of the room. However, her glare quickly faded away as she noticed something odd. The cobwebs hanging over the small opening between two bookshelves were moving slightly, as if a draught was doing so. She placed her hand in front of the cobwebs, indeed feeling the cool air of a draught which made her furrow her brow.

"Steve!" she called, Nat and Steve almost immediately appearing behind her. "Look. There's something behind here."

Steve placed his hand on the bookshelf and used all his strength to pull it to the side, a metallic clanking being heard which indicated that they had found a hidden door. A light was burning in the hallway and Maria placed herself next to Steve as she looked inside, seeing a pair of doors a little further down the hallway.

"If you're already working in a secret office… Why do you need to hide the elevator?" asked Steve, Natasha joining them in staring at the doors.

"Come on," said Natasha, walking past them and towards the elevator doors.

Using her phone, which most certainly was not only a phone, she managed to decipher what the code was before easily unlocking the elevator doors. Steve and Natasha shared a look before entering the elevator, Maria following them swiftly. There were only two buttons in the elevator which could be pressed; one that was used for going down and one for going up. Maria pressed the one to go down and the doors quickly closed, the elevator starting to move downwards.

"What do you think is down there?" asked Maria quietly.

"Hopefully… something that can help us save SHIELD," said Natasha simply.

Maria and Steve shared a look before the elevator stopped and the doors opened, the three heroes being met with a pitch dark room, only the light from the elevator enlightened the floor a few feet ahead of them. A strange sound of wind blowing through the room was heard and Maria couldn't help but find it all quite spooky, more than the spider from before. And as she followed Steve out of the elevator, her heart beat quickened.

The elevator doors closed behind the three of them and Maria whipped back around at the sudden sound of it, letting out a long breath as she realized it was nothing. Even though she enjoyed the darkness, seeing as she used to use it to her advantage to take out criminals during nights in Hell's Kitchen, there was an eerie feeling in the room that caused her to wish for a flashlight or a light switch. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of something blinking over by, what she assumed was, the far end of the room. It looked like simple squares in different colours simply floating in mid-air. And as the three of them continued to walk, the lights were suddenly turned on just as something else was as well.

Maria nearly gasped at the sight before her. There, in the room she had thought was small, a hundred silver boxes were standing all around the room, which would be more accurately described as a hall. There were pillars keeping the ceiling from breaking down on them and in the middle of the room, not at the far end of it, a large screen was placed on a desk surrounded with several more monitors. The strange squares were still there, only now Maria saw that those were small lights coming from the device on which the monitors were standing. Maria did recognize the silver boxes in the room as what the very first hard drives looked like back in the days, however she didn't understand why there were so many or even why they were there to begin with.

"This can't be the data point. This technology is ancient," said Natasha, shaking her head.

However, Natasha frowned as she looked at the strange, dust covered desk in the centre of the room, causing both Steve and Maria to look at her with curious eyes. Maria followed her gaze as Natasha walked over to the monitors and she saw that there was something very out of place there. A small, black device seeming to have multiple USB-ports, was standing in front of the monitors, the dust around it have been touched by someone who had been down there before them which only made the entire thing even more spooky.

As Natasha placed the USB into the black device, the monitors lit up and the silver boxes suddenly all roared to life, a buzzing noise filling the room as even more lights were turned on, showing off even more of the massive room.

On the monitor straight in front of them, two words suddenly appeared and a strangled voice was heard coming from the computer.

 _"Initiate system?"_

Natasha was the one who walked towards the keyboard resting in front of the machine.

"Y-E-S spells yes," said Natasha as she typed in the word before pressing enter.

The sound of even more of the strange computer coming to life was heard as Natasha glanced back at Steve.

"Shall we play a game?" she said, clearly quoting the Saw movies. "It's from a movie-"

"I know. I saw it," said Steve, causing Maria to smirk as Natasha looked away again.

Maria nudged Steve slightly, offering him a grin since she knew that he had struggled before with understanding quotes like that. However, he didn't react to her and so, she simply let her grin fade away as she looked back at the computer, a strange image appearing on the screen of what looked like a pair of glasses and a face with neither a nose or a mouth. The strange, old fashioned, security camera that was placed above the monitor suddenly turned to look at Steve before a strange voice came from the computer.

 _"Rogers, Steven, born 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna, born 1984. Dalton, Maria, born 1990."_

"It's some kind of recording," said Natasha, her voice sounding unsure.

Maria had noticed how the camera had moved over to each and every person before having said their names and something told Maria that it _wasn't_ a recording.

 _"I am not a recording, frulein. I may not be the **man** I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945. But I **am**." _

Maria's lips parted slightly in shock and fascination, her eyes staring at the monitor intently as a second monitor showed the picture of a man wearing the same glasses as the ones being shown on the screen.

"You know this thing?" asked Natasha.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years," said Steve as he rounded the desk.

 _"First correction!"_ the computer suddenly spoke again. _"I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been **more alive**. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnoses. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, **that** was worth saving, on 200 000 feet of databanks. You are standing in my brain." _

"Impossible," said Maria.

 _"No, not at all, little Dalton. Not at all…"_

Maria frowned at the strange way he addressed her, however, she stayed silent about it as Steve came to stand next to her.

"How did you get here?" asked Steve.

 _"Invited."_

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II," said Natasha, seeming to remember something that she had read somewhere at some point; "SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."

 _"They thought I could help with their cause. I also helped my own."_

"HYDRA," concluded Maria, already knowing that is was those who had infiltrated SHIELD.

"But the Red Skull, he was the leader of HYDRA-" started Steve, however, Zola interrupted him.

 _"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."_

"Prove it," said Steve simply, earning a look from Maria.

 _"Accessing archive. HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realise was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew with new leaders and new recruits. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For 70 years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war, and when history did not cooperate, history was changed,"_ said Zola, showing pictures of files on the second monitor as he spoke, even showing the Winter Soldier at the end.

"Why did SHIELD not stop you?" asked Maria. "Surely there were those loyal to SHIELD?"

 _"There were but, accidents happen."_

As Maria saw the file of Fury being shown on the second monitor as well as other people who had been killed off, amongst those Howard Stark, her heart sank and anger started to bubble up inside of her.

 _"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once a purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero sum."_

Steve did what Maria had wanted to do since the very first beginning, hit the monitor and breaking it into several pieces. However, it didn't help.

 _"As I was saying-"_ he continued, his "face" appearing on the second monitor this time.

"What's on this drive?" asked Steve, gesturing towards the USB.

 _"Project Insight requires insight. So, I wrote an algorithm."_

"What kind of algorithm, what does it do?" asked Natasha.

 _"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."_

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	18. Chapter 18, Surviving

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 18~  
Surviving**

 _"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."_

"Steve…" whispered Maria, her eyes widening in fear as the three of them turned back to the elevator doors, seeing them being closed off by two large, metal barriers.

In desperation, Steve threw his shield at the closing metal doors, trying to stop them from closing with the help from his shield. Since it was made out of Vibranium, the strongest metal on Earth, it could hinder two doors from closing easily if it was placed between them in time. However, he was too late and the doors closed just a few seconds before his shield hit them.

"We're trapped," said Maria, watching Steve catch his shield again as it ricocheted back towards him.

"Guys, we've got a bogey," said Natasha from behind them.

The two of them turned around, watching her as she stared at her phone.

"Short range ballistic. 50 seconds top," said Natasha, earning a frightened look from Maria.

They were trapped and there was no way out of there. Even though they were deep down underneath the ground, the house above them was still going to be hit and fall down on them. They were still going to die.

"Who fired it?" asked Steve, shifting so he was standing close to Maria.

"SHIELD," said Natasha.

 _"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain."_ Natasha quickly grabbed the USB-stick from the desk, unplugging it from Zola. Frantically, the two of them looked around the room, trying to find somewhere to cover. _"Admit it. It's better this way."_ Maria stared down at the floor, starting to shake. She didn't want to end like that; in a place where no one would find her ever again. _"We are, both of us, out of time."_

Then, suddenly, her eyes caught sight of something that had saved her life earlier that day as well. A grate-opening. As quickly as she could, she made her way towards it before letting herself fall down in front of it, trying her best to open it. However, it was too tightly shut and she couldn't open it with her own strength. Luckily, Steve had understood her plan and without even flinching slightly, he opened the grate, letting Natasha enter first.

Taking Steve's hand, she prepared herself to jump down at the same time as Steve. However, Zola's words hindered her from doing so:

 _"As for little Dalton… My condolences to your father. I am sure he would have wanted to meet you one last time."_

"What?" asked Maria, her gaze shooting up at the computer again.

"Jump, Maria!" exclaimed Steve, pushing her down into the grate where Natasha caught her.

When Steve entered the grate, he immediately placed the shield over both Natasha and Maria, who were currently huddled up in a corner, hugging each other as tightly as possible in order to make it possible for Steve to shield them. The last thing Maria noticed before everything around her started to shake, was Steve grabbing her hand softly.

* * *

 _"… My condolences to your father..."_

 _"You're special, baby-girl…"_

 _Maria looked up at her dad with big eyes.. Her head was resting on a comfortable pillow and even though it felt nice to be tucked in by her daddy for once, something was wrong. He looked sadder than usual._

 _"Don't let anyone else tell you any different," he said, stroking away a strand of hair from her face. "Daddy has to go away again tomorrow."_

 _"For how long?"_

 _He looked down at his hands before a smile appeared on his lips. Maria was too young to see just how forced that very smile was, and so, she smiled back._

 _"I don't know just yet, baby-girl," he said. "But I will see you again soon."_

 _"… I am sure he would have wanted to meet you one last time…"_

* * *

"Maria… Maria!"

Something was tugging on her shoulder, causing her to look away from her father and up towards the ceiling. Slowly, the dream faded away and she was thrust back into reality, a sigh escaping her lips.

"We have to go," said Steve, his face suddenly appearing before her. "SHIELD's going to come searching for our bodies."

"We're not dead…" slurred Maria, sitting up though regretting the action immediately as her entire world spun, her last meal nearly coming back up as it did.

"You okay?" asked Steve, placing his hands on either side of her face, looking into her eyes. "You've got a concussion. Can you stand?"

"Yeah," breathed Maria, looking over at Natasha who was lying next to her, unconscious. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know," said Steve, shifting so he was crouched down in front of Natasha. "We need to move."

"Carry her," said Maria, placing her hands on a piece of rock next to her before heaving herself up into a standing position. "I'll walk."

* * *

Artur walked through the rubble that was left from the facility Maria, the Captain and Romanoff had been in. In his hands, a heavy weapon rested and his eyes flickered back and forth, desperately searching for any sign of Maria. If he found her first, maybe he could hide her from the others.

He stopped walking, closing his eyes. If he hid Maria from Hydra, he'd end up getting himself killed. Was the girl really worth that? After all, she'd hurt him just as much as he probably had hurt her. He felt confused. Lost. Trapped. If he had just let Hydra know that _he_ had contacted him all those years ago, he wouldn't have placed himself in such a bad position. Artur would've been free. Yes, he would've still been working for Hydra, but they wouldn't have wanted him _dead_. They would've trusted him just like _he_ trusted Artur.

A sigh escaped his lips as he reopened his eyes again, continuing the search. Maria was smart and almost always lucky, she would already be gone along with her friends. At least, that was what he hoped for. If anyone found Maria, they'd ask him to kill her. After all, he was the one with the mission to kill Target B. The others were all there for Target A and his accomplice, Romanoff.

"Call in the asset," said Rumlow suddenly from next to Artur, his hand on his earpiece.

"The Winter Soldier? We really need him for this?" asked Artur, his heart sinking.

"Don't worry," said Rumlow, glaring over at Artur. "He'll be briefed about _who_ kills Target B."

* * *

Her head already felt better and she felt just as surprised about that as the fact that they had managed to sneak past the Hydra agents without them noticing. Of course she knew about her healing abilities by now, but it still surprised her every single time. They had managed to get to their stolen truck without being noticed and the engines starting had barely been heard over the sound of the helicopters that had been searching the rubble from the air. Maria found them rather stupid, not having noticed them, yet she didn't dwell on it.

Maria was positioned in the front seat, next to Steve, while Natasha was lying in the back, still unconscious. She was alright, except for a few cuts and bruises, but she was still asleep and neither Steve nor Maria had managed to awaken her.

"Thank you," said Maria quietly, leaning her head back against the seat, watching the road ahead of them.

"For what?" asked Steve, glancing over at her.

"Saving us," said Maria with a sigh.

"It was nothing," said Steve, an eerie silence filling the truck before Steve continued talking; "You know… I don't mind it."

Maria turned her head to look at him, a frown on her face.

"Your past. I mean… Even if you knew-"

"I didn't."

"- it still doesn't change my feelings for you," he said, glancing once more over at her before focusing on the road again. "You're not a bad person. Besides… technically, I've been working for Hydra as well."

A soft smile appeared on Maria's lips as he spoke, the ache in her heart slowly fading and being replaced by a warm feeling instead. A feeling of admiration and love.

"Thank you…" said Maria quietly, reaching out a hand to him which she placed on his arm.

Quickly, Steve let go of the wheel with one hand, instead grabbing her hand in his own hand and squeezing it tightly.

"I'd be lost without you, Maria… Really, I would," he said, his thumb gently stroking her knuckles as he spoke. "When I saw you lying there in the rubble, unconscious and not moving… I thought I'd failed you. I thought I'd lost you. I've never felt that fear ever before."

"You're not going to lose me, Steve," said Maria, tears appearing in her eyes. "Not ever. 'Cause I love you."

He looked over at her, a smile playing on his lips.

"Steve?" asked Maria quietly, Steve humming a yes in reply. "The road."

"Shit!" exclaimed Steve, letting go of Maria's hand and quickly steering the truck back onto the road, it having nearly driven down off it.

"Steve Grant Rogers! Did you just swear?" exclaimed Maria as she laughed at him.

"Well, you do have a bad influence on me," he said, causing her to gasp and hit his arm playfully which only caused Steve to chuckle.

"Guys, can you not?" groaned Natasha from the back seat, Maria immediately turning around in her seat.

"What?" asked Maria, watching her sit up.

"Flirt. I mean, it's great that you are done fighting but…" said Natasha letting the sentence hang in the air to which Steve only smirked.

Maria smiled; "How are you?"

"I've been worse," said Natasha, nodding at Maria. "How'd we get out?"

"Steve carried you past the agents looking for us," said Maria, earning a nod from Natasha.

"And now?" she asked.

Both Maria and Steve shared a look, realizing that they hadn't spoken about it yet. Where could they go? What could they do? All unanswered questions.

"Well, the first thing we need is a plan," said Steve, causing Maria to shake her head.

"The first thing we need is a place to regain our strength," said Maria, turning back in her seat.

"Well, anyone got any friends left?" asked Natasha, leaning against the back of Maria's seat.

"Stark could work," said Maria. "Or I have a friend in Hell's Kitchen who could help us."

Steve frowned, shaking his head; "If we drag Stark into this, we're only going to start a war. Who knows how he'll react to all of this."

"You don't think he already knows?" asked Maria.

"SHIELD's good at keeping things a secret. I highly doubt Hydra isn't just as good," said Natasha.

"If not better," added Steve.

"Who's your friend in Hell's Kitchen?" asked Natasha, causing Maria to widen her eyes.

Matt's identity was a secret to the Avengers _and_ SHIELD. The both of them wanted it to stay like that and even though he was a very good option to go to and rest at, since no one really knew him or that Maria was associated with him, she didn't want to risk him being exposed.

"No," said Maria, shaking her head. "He might not be able to help…"

"I know someone," said Steve.

"Who?" asked Natasha.

Steve looked over at Maria for a while before looking back at the road; "Sam Wilson."

"Should we really get him involved in this?" asked Maria with a sigh.

"Do we have any other choice?"

* * *

"Hey, man." Sam looked at the three heroes standing on his porch, seeming slightly confused. Most likely because it was quite surprising to suddenly find three members of the Avengers suddenly standing on ones porch and probably also because Natasha, Maria and Steve were all covered in dirt and looked more than ready to pass out from exhaustion.

"Sorry about this. We need a place to lay low," said Steve.

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," added Natasha, a sympathetic look washing over Sam's face, causing Maria to feel relief flow through her body.

"Not everyone," he said before stepping aside, letting the three heroes inside.

He shut the curtains on each window, making sure each doors was locked, before turning to the three heroes who were now all standing in his kitchen, simply watching him. He inspected them for a while before opening his mouth; "You three look about done. The spare room's just down the hall. There's a bathroom too you can use."

"Thank you," said Maria, earning a nod from Sam before the three of them made their way to the spare room.

Sam's house was cozy. It was nothing special, just like hers and Steve's apartment, yet it still held this warm and comfortable aura around it. Of course, that could only be because Maria truly needed a break. Even a cave far away from everything happening would've felt welcoming to her.

The spare room was a simple, smaller room. It held two small beds, each positioned against opposite walls, and a closet. There were a few paintings decorating the walls though apart from that, there was nothing else in the room. As Natasha immediately made her way inside the bathroom, Maria let herself fall down on the bed to the left, letting out a long breath as the softness of the bed made her entire body relax.

She felt the bed shift underneath someone else's weight and as she looked up to see who it was, she saw Steve sitting there. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed and a relieved look on his face. Maria watched him for a while, understanding how tired he must feel after such a weird couple of days. First, he found out that Hydra still existed even after he had basically given his life to stop them, then he found out that SHIELD was basically completely corrupted and then, he was nearly killed by SHIELD; or Hydra.

Softly, Maria shifted forwards so that her head was resting in his lap. She grabbed his hand, holding it in hers before kissing his knuckles, looking up at him to see his reaction. He was smiling down at her, his head still resting against the wall. His eyes glistened as he watched her smile. With his free hand, he brushed his fingers through her silken hair as she let go of his other hand, closing her eyes as she simply let herself enjoy the feeling of him playing with her hair. It was just what the two of them needed; some alone time. And once Natasha exited the bathroom fifteen minutes later, they were still positioned in the same way, causing the ex-assassin to smile slightly.

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	19. Chapter 19, Sam's Little Big Secret

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 19~  
Sam's Little Big Secret**

The sound of the shower being turned on was heard from inside the bathroom and Maria sat down on the bed again, her hair still slightly wet. On the other bed, opposite of the one Maria was sitting on, Natasha was placed. She didn't look at Maria, in fact, it looked as though she was completely in her own world. There was a strange tension in the air between the two women, as it usually was between Maria and any other woman. She sighed, trying to make her mother's voice quieten down inside of her yet, it was hard. The things she had done to Maria…

Maria closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She ran her hands over her face, pushing away all thoughts about her mother. As she did, the tension disappeared and she realized that the tension had only been imagined by herself; that it only had existed in her own mind. The shower was turned off at the same time as Maria looked over at Natasha again. She remembered the conversation they had had in the car on their way to Zola and she wondered if it was what Natasha was thinking about at that moment. After all, she had never seen Natasha that much in her own thoughts and with such a gloomy expression on her face.

She noticed how Natasha was trying to dry the back of her hair with the towel and Maria shifted over to Natasha's bed, the bed's shifting under Maria's weight making Nat look over at her.

"You okay?" asked Maria quietly, causing Natasha's lips to curl into a struggled smile.

"Can't reach the back," said Natasha, causing Maria to mimic her smile before she grabbed the towel from Natasha's hands, beginning to dry the remaining hair on the back for her instead.

"It's very nice of you to stay with us even though we're putting you in danger," said Maria, the door to the bathroom opening and revealing Steve standing there, wearing a white, sleeveless shirt and a pair of jeans.

"What else should I do? I work for SHIELD, not Hydra," said Natasha.

"Yeah…" said Maria quietly, the tension appearing again. "I just think you're very kind for doing that. No other woman would do something like that for me…"

 _Unless you're doing it for Steve._

"We're a team. And we're friends," said Natasha, turning her head to look at Maria.

She slowly nodded her head, avoiding eye-contact with Natasha as she did. Steve continued to watch from the doorway, a towel in his hands which he used to dry away the remaining wetness at the back of his neck. A wondering look appeared in his eyes as he watched the way Maria interacted with Natasha and as Maria noticed this, Natasha having turned her head back around again so that Maria could continue drying her hair, she simply shook her head. Even though Maria had told Steve almost everything about what she had done in her life, she had barely spoken about her childhood. All Steve knew was that Maria's father left when she was very young and that her mother was dead. There were still some things left to tell him but, then again, there were also things in her childhood that Maria herself didn't understand. Therefore, she didn't feel obliged to tell him unless he asked, which he hadn't yet.

"You okay?" asked Steve, earning the attention from Natasha.

They hadn't spoken much since the incident with Zola, Steve and Natasha, and so, Maria stayed quiet, simply observing their conversation just like Steve had done earlier.

"Yeah," replied Natasha, too quickly for it to sound like the genuine truth.

Steve and Maria shared a look before he shifted so that he was positioned on the second bed. He leaned his elbows on his knees, his blue eyes looking at Natasha carefully; "What's going on?"

Maria finished drying her hair and she slowly placed the towel on the bed, watching Natasha as she stared back into Steve's eyes, seeming to search for any indication that she couldn't trust Steve with this information. It was strange and slightly relieving, that she didn't do the same to Maria. It meant that she did trust her even though the feeling wasn't completely mutual.

"When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for Hydra," said Natasha, looking down at her hands. "I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I guess I can't tell the difference anymore."

"You didn't know," said Maria quietly, earning a nod from Steve.

"Besides… I doubt everyone was Hydra. Fury wasn't," said Steve, a soft smile playing on his lips.

"Yeah…" said Natasha quietly; "I owe you."

"It's okay," said Steve, shaking his head, the smile still there.

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your lives – and be honest with me – would you trust me to do it?" asked Natasha quietly, her eyes shifting from Maria to Steve.

Maria looked down at her hands, the question replaying over and over in her mind. Yes, Maria had some difficulties with letting Natasha in. But then again, now that they were getting to know each other a little bit more and Maria saw that not every woman was like her mother, she was starting to trust her more and more. Perhaps, the answer would be a sincere yes soon, but at the moment, all Maria could do was nod her head.

"I would now," said Steve. "And I'm always honest."

"Well," said Natasha, a smile growing on her lips; "You seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing."

"Well, guess I just like to know who I'm fighting," said Steve, all three heroes smiling at each other.

"Everything's going to turn out alright. We've Avengers after all," said Maria; "We fought against an army of _aliens_."

"It's gonna be hard," said Steve, earning a shrug from Maria to which Natasha smiled.

"Everything is tough. But nothing is impossible."

"I made breakfast," said Sam's voice, startling both Natasha and Maria while Steve seemed to already have heard him walking up to the spare room. "If you guys… eat that sort of thing."

Maria giggled as Sam walked away again, earning an amused look from Steve. The three of them stood up, following Sam to the kitchen. He gestured towards the table, the three heroes sitting down at it while Sam placed a plate of waffles in front of each hero. The table was square formed and there were exactly four chairs. Steve and Maria were sat next to each other while Natasha sat opposite of Steve. Sam later sat down in front of Maria with a plate of waffles for himself and as they ate, it was quiet. Yet, the silence wasn't awkward. It was more of a comforting silence in which the four of them simply focused on filling their empty stomachs.

* * *

"Anyone wanna tell me what's going on?" asked Sam, breaking the silence several minutes later.

Maria and Natasha exchanged a look as he asked this while Steve put down his cutlery, already having finished his waffles.

"You know about SHIELD, right?" asked Steve, earning a nod from Sam.

"Yeah, they're like the FBI, just a bit more advanced, I think," he replied, causing Maria to nod her head.

"Turns out, not all of SHIELD is good," explained Steve. "There's this other organization called Hydra. They were active during the Second World War and I fought against them. I thought I had stopped them… but it turns out I hadn't. They've been infiltrating SHIELD since the beginning, growing there in silence until the day they were strong enough to take over."

"That is now?" asked Sam.

"Yeah," said Maria. "They know we're against them and so, they want us dead. Who knows how far they'll go to do that."

"So, what you're saying is that you're being hunted by the world's most dangerous organization which has been infiltrated by an even more dangerous organization?" asked Sam, causing Maria to pout her lips slightly before nodding her head.

"Basically," replied Natasha.

"Great," said Sam, running a hand over his face.

Maria finished her waffles in piece while Steve and Natasha both filled Sam in on exactly what they had been through. After all, now that the three of them were at his house, Sam was already exposed and would most certainly be in the same danger as the three of them sooner or later. Filling him in on everything and letting him help as much as he wanted to was the least they could do.

At the end, Sam sighed before standing up, walking over to the fridge and taking out some butter. Maria looked over at Steve who was looking at the loaf of bread Sam took out as well. A smirk appeared on her lips as she realized he was still hungry even after the large amount of waffles he had just ate and so, she stood up and joined Sam at the counter, grabbing a slice of bread for Steve. After having lived with the super soldier for a while, she knew how much food he needed and just how much he ate. After all, his metabolism was faster than others.

"The question is, though, who at SHIELD can launch a domestic missile-strike?" asked Natasha, leaning back in her chair.

"Pierce," answered Steve and Maria at the same time.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," said Natasha.

Maria sat down next to Steve again, placing the slice of bread on his empty plate. He looked at it for a while before smiling over at Maria, grabbing the piece and starting to eat it.

"Well, if Zola's algorithm existed on that USB and you guys got _that_ from the ship, then Pierce can't be working alone," said Maria, earning a nod from Steve.

"Jasper Sitwell was on there as well…" said Natasha, causing Maria to frown.

Sitwell had been the man who had helped the Avengers search for Loki back when they had all come together for the first time. It felt strange to think that even those people who had been kind and helpful were trying to kill them now. To think about how fast something could change and turn around for the worse scared Maria, though it wasn't something she wasn't familiar with.

"So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" asked Steve, looking between Maria and Natasha.

"The answer is; you don't," said Sam, walking over to them with not a piece of bread in his hands, but a brown folder. He placed it on the dining table in front of Steve, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

"What's this?" he asked, Maria looking at the folder as Natasha grabbed it.

"Call it a résumé," said Sam.

"Is this Bakhmala?" asked Natasha.

She took out a picture from the folder, looking at it with surprised eyes. Maria only grew confused at Natasha's question, not quite understanding what was going on nor what Bakhmala was.

"The Khalid Khandil missions, that was you," said Natasha, this time looking over at Sam while Steve looked at the picture as well, grabbing it from her along with the folder. "You didn't say he was a Pararescue."

"This Riley?" asked Steve, earning a nod from Sam. Maria looked over at the picture as well, seeing Sam and another man walking down a road wearing military clothes and equipment. To know that he had been quite special in the military made Maria like him even more. He had a nice vibe around him to begin with; cool and charming. Yet, to know that he had been more than just a military man shooting at people made her respect him. Maybe, just maybe, he could be a nice recruit for the Avengers.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use? A stealth chute?" asked Natasha, genuinely interested which caused Maria to smile softly.

"No," replied Sam simply before grabbing the folder and showing them a different picture. "These."

Maria's mouth opened slightly in amazement as she looked at the picture of a set of metallic wings strapped against Sam's back and causing him to be able to fly. Of course, they didn't work as the birds wings since they didn't flap around and because they ran on gas. But, they were shaped like them and probably made it possible for Sam to maneuver up in the sky.

She smiled widely at him, happy to know that they probably had a new (hero) friend on their side now.

"I thought you were a pilot?" asked Steve.

"I never said pilot," replied Sam, shaking his head.

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam," replied Steve, shaking his head. "You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, _Captain America_ needs my help," replied Sam. "There's no better reason to get back in."

Maria smiled widely as Steve looked at her for back-up. Seeing her smile only made him smile as well. "Alright then. Where can we get one of these?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade," replied Sam, taking the folder from Steve and Natasha again. "Behind three guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall."

Maria shared a look with Natasha before scoffing; "No problem."

* * *

 **I know, I know... There's a lot of talk about Maria's mother and father at the moment and I know there's not a lot of info about them. But, I swear, they have a huge part of everything that is happening with Maria and with future things that's going to happen. During this very movie, you don't get to know much about Maria's mother or father, but the next one is going to focus more on that and therefore, I need to put hints of that in here. Just so you know or if you were wondering whether or not you had missed something! :) Hope you like and, since I'm on Christmas break, expect more frequent updates! :D**

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	20. Chapter 20, Fort Meade

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 20~  
Fort Meade and Interrogations  
**

Maria let out an annoyed sigh as she continued to crawl through the vents, sweat pouring down her forehead and back. The space was cramped and warm, the heated air going through those vents and making it even warmer to crawl through them. Since Maria was the smallest out of the four, she was the one that had been sent inside. The others were waiting outside, the truck parked as far away from the building as possible in order to not be seen. People were allowed inside where the museum was, however they weren't allowed where the storage rooms were. The only way inside without being seen was through the vents which was where Maria was at the moment.

"This better be worth it," mumbled Maria with a roll of her eyes.

As she reached the destination of the 'wings', Maria looked down through the opening, seeing three guards positioned outside of the storage room, guns resting in their hands. Maria was sure those guards weren't the only ones there but, if she was quiet, she wouldn't give them a cause to leave their current posts.

Slowly and silently, she opened the vent-opening and placed it inside of the vent. From her jumper's pocket, she grabbed her dagger, seeing the glossy slime from the poison still covering the blade, much to her relief. She knew, since it was only a small blade compared to her sword, that the poison would be enough for two of the three guards. If she could be quiet while sneaking down behind them, she could take out two with her dagger and the last one with her hands.

Grabbing the edges of the vent-opening, she slowly let herself descend down onto the floor behind them, making absolutely no sound whatsoever. Once again grabbing her dagger, she quickly sliced two of the guards arms only slightly so that they barely would register it as pain. As the two of them started to fall into unconsciousness, she jumped up onto the third man's shoulders, wrapping her legs around his neck, grabbing his gun in the process and throwing it away from him. As he slowly choked, Maria held onto his head, trying her best to keep her balance.

However, while the two other men were now lying on the floor, the third man was smarter than Maria had anticipated and quickly thrust his back against the wall, causing Maria to hit against the wall as well. As the air was pushed out of her lungs, she loosened her grip on the man's neck unintentionally which gave him the chance to wiggle out of her grip, turning around and grabbing her by the throat. As she already had no air in her lungs, black dots started to appear in front of her eyes the moment he did so and she grabbed onto his hands, digging her nails down into them and trying her best to make him let go. It wasn't until she kicked out with her leg against his crotch that he let go, though.

She fell to the floor, coughing and heaving in air back into her lungs. The guard was on the floor, groaning out of pain. Maria didn't let her lack of oxygen stop her though, knowing that he'd be on his feet again soon. She stood up and grabbed her dagger, which had fallen to the floor sometime during this process. A darkness overcame her as she looked down at him, his eyes looking up at her. A darkness she hadn't felt for so long. She leaned down, the man seeming to see something in her eyes that made him cower away from her instead of fighting her. Probably the darkness she felt inside of her.

Crouching down next to him and raising the dagger to his throat, the man let out a gasp. However, Maria hindered herself, not letting _that_ darkness take her over. Instead, she used the back of her dagger to knock him unconscious. She stood back up, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, both to make her calm herself down and to get more air back into her lungs. She wasn't a murderer. She was an Avenger. These men were military men who risked their lives for their country all the time. They weren't bad people and they shouldn't be killed.

She turned back to the vault behind which Sam's wings were. With a roll of her eyes, she realized she only needed a key card from one of the guards to open it and so, she did just that, opening the vault easily. Inside, the gear was placed on a steel table in the middle of the room. Maria looked around the room before entering, seeing no security cameras and no traps whatsoever. Even though she knew Natasha had made sure the cameras were playing the feed from the day before, she couldn't risk setting off an alarm.

Walking inside, she grabbed the gear quickly before turning back towards the vault door. However, just as she did, the very thing she didn't want to happen, happened. The high pitched blare from an alarm was heard. The lights suddenly dimmed down, a strange red light mixing in with it and as Maria quickly exited the vault, it starting to close again on its own, she saw multiple guards running her way. They were too many for her to take on herself yet, she had no time to get up into the vent before they arrived. With a sigh, she put on the gear as quickly as she could. The gear was simply a strange sort of vest along with a backpack, though it weighed more than a vest and a backpack normally did. The guards all started to point their weapons at her as they came closer and closer to her, though before they could even yell at her to stand down, she had pressed a white button on the vest which made her lift up into air. She had no control over it, though, and although she ended up in the vent at the end, she bumped her head against the ceiling several times before she did. The wings never were activated, only the 'engine' which caused one to levitate. And when she landed in the vent, she quickly pressed the white button to turn it off again.

With a relieved sigh, she started to crawl through the vent again. However, she hadn't quite thought her plan through as several bullets were fired up through the vent, creating bullet holes right in front of her nose. She froze, realizing she had forgotten that they had guns, before she groaned, knowing what she had to do. Once again, she pressed the white button and as if she had suddenly ended up in a cartoon, she was gliding through the vents with such velocity that Maria barely registered when she crashed through the wall of the building, ending up outside.

Quickly, she pressed the white button again, causing her to stop in midair for a few seconds before falling down to the ground. With a thump, she landed on the parking lot, several guests who were running out of the museum where the alarm was sounding as well, stared at her with wide eyes as she did.

"Hope you had a nice time!" she called as she stood up and ran towards where she knew the truck was parked.

Sam, Natasha and Steve all looked at her funny as she entered the truck, sitting down with a sigh and closing the door.

"Drive!" she exclaimed.

* * *

Zola's algorithm was something that they needed to know more about before they could come up with a major plan. Therefore, Sam had managed to get James Sitwell to Natasha, Steve and Maria. They knew for a fact that he worked for Hydra now since he had been on the ship that was shipping the algorithm to begin with. Getting out more information from him was the first thing they needed to do.

Therefore, Steve was currently holding Sitwell dangerously close to the edge of a high skyscraper, holding onto his suit as he did. Although he had looked rather scared at first, a cocky grin was now plastered onto his face, causing Maria to glare at him.

"Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof?" asked Sitwell, shaking his head at Steve. "'Cause it's really not your style, Rogers."

Steve offered a faked smile to Sitwell, letting him go and brushing him off. "You're right. It's not mine."

"But's it's mine," said Maria, grabbing onto him as Steve stepped back. Sitwell's eyes widened as she mimicked what Steve had just done, placing him dangerously close to the edge. "You wanna tell me or do you wanna fly?"

"I-I don't know anything," stammered Sitwell.

"You know," said Maria quietly, slowly starting to let go of him to which he seemed to relax slightly. "I don't believe you."

With a single, soft push against his chest, he toppled over the edge and fell. Nonchalantly, she turned her back towards the edge and looked over at Steve and Natasha again. At the same time as she did, Sam flew down towards them, letting Sitwell, whom he had caught in midair, fall down next to the three of them before he landed next to Maria, nodding his head at her.

"Well?" asked Maria.

"Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing-" he said as he shifted so he was positioned on his knees, looking up at the four of them. He gulped once, still panting from the fear of having nearly fallen down a skyscraper. "- for choosing insight's targets."

"Insight?" asked Maria.

"I'll tell you later," mumbled Steve to Maria before he turned to Sitwell; "What targets?"

"You!" he exclaimed before continuing. "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defence, a high school in Valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Matt Murdock, Stephen Strange… anyone who's a threat to Hydra. Now or in the future."

Maria's eyes widened. Not only were she and her current team members on that list, but also Bruce and Matt who both had nothing to do with any of what was going on at the moment. In fact, it sounded like all those who had special abilities were chosen by this _project._ This was bigger than she had thought at first.

"In the future? How could it know?" asked Steve, earning a chuckle from Sitwell.

"How could it not?" he asked back as he stood up. "The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught Hydra how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, you damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?" asked Maria quietly.

"Oh my God… Pierce is going to kill me," said Sitwell, looking down at the ground.

"We don't care!" exclaimed Maria, genuinely concerned for those close to her and the world. "What then?"

"Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at the time," said Sitwell, causing Maria to look over at Steve with wide eyes.

This wasn't good. And they had to stop it quickly before the program could be started. And that, they had to do all on their own.

* * *

 **It's a little shorter than usual, but the next chapter is going to be longer. It felt weird stopping in the middle of a fighting scene...**

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	21. Chapter 21, Bucky?

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 21~  
Bucky?  
**

"I don't like this," said Sitwell with an annoyed tone to his voice.

Maria looked over at him, seeing the faint, panicked expression on his face. He had been on their side when the Avengers first got together and although she knew that, back then, she would have felt some sort of sympathy for him, she didn't feel anything towards him now.

"That makes us two," commented Maria, shifting so that she was pushed up against Natasha more than against Sitwell.

She was positioned in-between Sitwell and Natasha in the back of Sam's car, staring out straight in front of her. She didn't mind human contact, but since she was sat in-between the two people she currently felt the most uncomfortable with, she didn't like it. Since Maria was starting to like Natasha more and more, feeling more comfortable around her the more Natasha opened up about herself, she decided to lean a bit more towards her instead of Sitwell, not bothering to look at him as he stared at her.

"Look, Hydra doesn't like leaks," said Sitwell, explaining what he had meant.

"Well, then why don't you try sticking a cork into it?" said Sam, more as a statement than a question.

Maria smirked, leaning forwards and whispering; "thanks" to Sam before leaning back again with a sigh.

"Insight's launching in 16 hours," said Natasha, leaning forwards slightly. "We're cutting it a little bit close here."

"We'll use him to bypass the DNA-scans and access the helicarriers directly," said Steve, having already come up with a plan to which Maria listened to intently.

"What?" exclaimed Sitwell, leaning forwards, causing Maria to glance at him. "Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea!"

"I like it," said Maria, once again earning a look from Sitwell. "What do we do once onboard?"

Steve was about to open his mouth and explain the rest of his plan, when a thump was heard from the roof of the car. Everyone except for Sam who was driving, looked up, confused looks on their faces. Only seconds later, the window next to Sitwell was broken, a hand grabbing Sitwell by the neck and forcing him out, throwing him to the other side of the highway where the cars were driving in the opposite direction at high speed. Maria never saw what happened to him as she looked away before she could, only hearing the sickening sound of his body hitting a car.

"Quickly!" exclaimed Natasha, crawling over Maria towards the front of the car and placing herself there with Steve.

Maria looked at her with confused eyes before she saw what Natasha had seen in the now broken window. A boot. It was lifted up towards the top of the car and before she knew it, multiple bullets were fired next to her where Natasha once had been seated. She jumped away from them, sitting on the broken glass where Sitwell had once been now, pressing herself against the door.

Steve looked back once, glancing at her to see if she was okay before grabbing the handle of the hand-brake and pulling it. The car came to an almost immediate stop and through the front window, the four heroes saw a man flying off of the top of the car. He landed ahead of them, barely faced by the fact he had just fallen of a car and landed on a cement road. He stood up, looking straight at them, a gun still in his hands.

"Winter Soldier…" breathed Maria.

The hand that wasn't holding the gun was made out of metal. In fact, the entire arm was made out of metal and in the short period of time that Maria managed to actually get a good look on him, she only ever managed to deduce that he looked creepy and dangerous.

While the other cars all drove past them as they stood still on the highway, one big, black jeep drove into the back of the car, causing Maria to be flung against the back of Sam's seat. Even though her left ear was ringing as she had hit that part of her face, she noticed how the jeep continued to drive, causing their car to move as well. Right before they hit the Winter Soldier, he jumped up and once again landed on the top of the car, the thump causing Maria to tense up and move to the middle again.

Without it making a difference, Sam pushed his foot down on the brake, trying his best to get away from there. However, nothing worked. The only thing that Sam did was creating an eerie, squealing sound as the tires of the car were dragged over the road in high speed. It felt very uncomfortable in Maria's left ear even though she barely heard anything through it at the moment and out of frustration, she grabbed her dagger and thrust it up through the ceiling, hoping to at least hurt the man on top enough to make him go away.

Once again, Maria didn't think through her plan as the man quickly responded by shooting multiple bullets through the roof, three of them hitting her upper leg. With a cry of pain, Maria let the dagger fall to the floor of the car, her hands pressing down on the now rather deep wound.

"Maria!" exclaimed Steve at the same time as the Winter Soldier's metal arm ripped through the front window, grabbing the steering wheel and ripping it off its place right out of Sam's hands, making the car un-drivable.

"Shit!" exclaimed Sam.

From in the front, Natasha had managed to get a hold of her gun again, which she had dropped onto the floor, and as she shot multiple shots through the ceiling, all four of them heard the Winter Soldier jump off of their car and towards the jeep.

With a sigh of relief, Maria leaned her head back, trying her best to ignore the gross feeling of her own blood seeping through her fingers as they pressed against her leg, trying to stop most of the bleeding. However, as the jeep slowed down, letting go of their car, Maria realized that they had no way off steering it. Because of the high velocity, it was going to lose control.

"Steve!" exclaimed Maria, crawling into the front and grabbing a hold of Sam. "The door!"

Steve seemed to have had the same idea as her as he already had his shield ready, having put it against the car door, his fingers wrapped tightly around the leather strap on the back of it.

"Hold on!" exclaimed Steve as the car started to swirl around.

While Steve grabbed a hold of Natasha, Maria held her arm around his waist - ignoring the fact that everybody was going to land on it and probably crush it as she knew she'd heal - while her other arm was wrapped around Sam's waist. He, on the other hand, held onto Steve's jacket at the same time as he held onto Maria's jumper, his face looking both confused and panicked.

As the car hit against the side of the rode, causing it to twirl up into the air, Steve used his strength to get the door of its hinges right as the door was facing the ground. They landed at the same time as their former car landed on its side a few meters ahead of them. For a couple of seconds the four of them slid on the car door easily before they came to a stop, Sam and Maria having let go of Steve by now, rolling to a stop a few meters behind them.

Maria groaned, her right arm throbbing with pain just like her leg. The only positive thing was that her hearing had returned in her left ear. Because of that, she heard as the jeep came to a stop a few meters away from her and Sam. The Winter Soldier stepped out of it, a soldier working for him handing him a different gun than the one he had been using before. Maria grabbed a hold of Sam, him helping her to the side of the road.

"Jeez, Maria," said Sam, looking at her upper leg with wide eyes.

"I'll be fine," she said, waving it off before she looked over at the Winter Soldier again.

As he aimed at Steve and Natasha, Maria widened her eyes, screaming out a "no" which caused Steve to look over at the Winter Soldier. Pushing Natasha out of the way, Steve held up his shield as the Winter Soldier shot a large rocket his way, sending him flying over the edge of the bridge, landing underneath of it where there were roads leading into town. Where he landed, Maria couldn't tell. Instead, she stood up, shrugging off Sam's hands that tried to stop her, before she limped her way over to the man.

One of the soldiers that worked for him tapped his shoulder, causing the Winter Soldier to look over at Maria right as she punched him in the face. He barely even reacted, instead, he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground. His metal fingers felt cool against her skin and although he held her by the throat, he didn't choke her.

"Dalton," he said, his voice deep as he spoke. She couldn't see his eyes, them being shielded by shaded goggles, though she imagined they were filled with hate as he spoke. "Not your time yet. She's not ours. Don't kill _her_."

Maria kicked out to which he didn't react. Instead, as the rest of the soldiers started to shoot at Sam and Natasha, he threw her against the jeep, causing the air to leave her lungs as she landed on the ground, coughing and heaving back in the air.

He crouched down in front of her, cocking his head to the side as she looked up at him.

"Is it true what they say?" he asked, making Maria glare at him. "Can you really not get hurt?"

Suddenly, as quick as a snake attacking its prey, he had grabbed her upper leg, squeezing the spot where he had shot her. She cried out in pain.

"Apparently not," he simply said before letting go of her, standing up and walking away.

Two soldiers walked over to her, pointing their guns at her as if they were guarding her, making sure that she wouldn't go anywhere. She felt confused as the Winter Soldier had seemed more than delighted to try and kill the others off. Yet, she was apparently not on his list. That, or Hydra wanted something else with her.

She stayed on the ground, watching as the Winter Soldier went after Natasha, leaving Sam be. Even though he had murdered a lot of people, it was clear that those who weren't on his list, were kept alive. As he and a couple of his soldiers made their way down the bridge where Natasha and Steve both were now, Sam took advantage of the fact nobody noticed him and took out the soldier that made its way down lastly. He grabbed his gun, checking it out before turning it at the soldiers guarding Maria. They had their backs turned towards Sam and hadn't noticed, much to Maria's relief, what Sam was up to. And as he pointed the gun at the soldiers, Maria quickly placed her hands over her head, shielding herself from the bullets as they came flying over her head, taking out the two soldiers.

Quickly, as it went quiet again, Maria stood up. She grabbed one of the men's guns before limping over towards Sam who caught her around the waist with one arm as she was close enough, supporting some of her weight for her.

"Where are the others?" asked Maria, glancing over the edge down at the road down there.

It was pure chaos down there. Civilians were running away from the scene, a bus had been turned over and shot at multiple times, causing it to catch fire, while cars had been abandoned in the middle of the street. Soldiers were firing at Steve who was shielding himself behind his shield while the Winter Soldier went after Natasha who Maria saw running away along with the civilians, further down the road.

Both Sam and Maria pointed their guns at the soldiers shooting at Steve, starting to take them out one by one. Although Maria hadn't used a gun before, she found it rather easy. Then again, Sam only needed one bullet per person while Maria wasted five as she missed a few times before actually hitting her target.

With the help of his shield, and because there only was one guy left which Maria and Sam saw Steve could deal with, Steve managed to get in close enough to take the last soldier out, hitting him in the face once with his shield before knocking him unconscious. When a bullet suddenly came flying past Maria's head, both Sam and Maria noticed that there still were two soldiers left further up the road. Steve looked up at them, noticing the two soldiers as well.

"Go! We've got this!" exclaimed Sam, earning a nod from Steve.

His eyes lingered on Maria for a while before he started to move to where the Winter Soldier was following Natasha, determined to try and take him out as well.

* * *

Maria dropped the gun on the floor, hissing as her leg still hurt tremendously. Her arm was alright by now and she wondered why her leg wasn't healing. Sam grabbed her arm, steadying her slightly.

"You should stay here," said Sam, earning a look from Maria.

"Well, where are you going?" she asked.

"To help Steve," said Sam, dropping his gun as well.

"Not alone you're not," said Maria, shaking her head before hissing again as she moved her leg.

"You're hurt, stay here," he said. However, as he went to walk away, Maria stopped him by grabbing his arm again.

"Not without me," she said through gritted teeth, hobbling over to him. "Help me to the car."

With a furrowed brow, Sam did as she said, the two of them moving over to the other side of the road where the car was lying, flipped over. She leaned against it, Sam moving to the back where he managed to pull out his wings from the broken trunk.

"Could you get my dagger?" asked Maria, a sweat breaking out onto her forehead as the pain started to become more and more intense.

Sam looked at her with a worried look on his face before nodding and crouching down into the back of the car. Almost immediately he spotted it, grabbing it and exiting the car again. With a confused look, he handed it to her and at the same time as she grabbed it, she fell down to the ground.

"Maria!" exclaimed Sam, placing a hand on her shoulders as she sat up, breathing heavily.

"I need to remove the bullets… They're hindering me from healing," said Maria quietly, hoping that it truly was the only reason for her not healing.

Sam frowned as she held the knife above her wound with a shaky hand before he placed his hand over hers, shaking his head. "I've done this more times than you. Let me."

They were purple, the bullets. And as the pain started to subdue and Maria saw them, she put on the exact same questioning look that Sam held as he stared at the three bullets resting in his hand.

"The hell are these?" asked Sam, earning a shrug from Maria.

"I've never seen any like them," said Maria, grabbing one of them and inspecting it more closely.

Apart from the color, they were just like any other bullet. Heavy, hard and made out of some sort of metal. Whatever they were, Hydra probably had a use for them. Whatever they were, they had managed to stop her body from healing.

"Alright, you ready?" asked Maria, placing the bullet in her pocket, waiting to inspect it until later as she knew Steve needed her now.

"I've just pulled out three bullets from your leg… You're not going anywhere," he said, shaking his head as he dropped the remaining bullets on the ground, standing up. "I'll help him, don't worry."

With a roll of Maria's eyes, she stood up, stretching out her leg and sighing a relieved sigh as the pain already was gone. Sam watched her before his eyes flickered down to her leg, seeing the now dried up blood and the healed up skin.

"Impossible…" he breathed.

"Nothing's impossible," said Maria with a smirk on her lips. "Now, come on."

* * *

It felt awful. Never had Maria ever thought that helping Steve could feel so awful. Her arms shook from the strength she used as she held onto Sam, her entire body actually shaking from the fear she was currently feeling. They weren't high up in the air, Sam probably sensing her fear and not wanting to push her, though it was still scary. Maria knew that if she let go, she'd fall a very long way down and it was not something she wanted to do as the pain would be unbearable.

She was hanging down from Sam, holding onto the straps of his backpack. It had been Sam's idea as Maria had wanted to go by foot, and seeing as Maria didn't weigh much nor was she all that long, Sam had reckoned his backpack could hold her. He had been right, much to Maria's dismay.

As they came closer and closer to where Steve was currently fighting against the Winter Soldier, Maria prepared to jump down and start to help. However, the plan changed as Steve managed to get in a good kick, sending the Winter Soldier flying at the same time as he dropped his mask. As he turned around towards Steve, no one having noticed Sam and Maria yet apart from Natasha, a strange look appeared on Steve's face. He looked shocked and confused at the same time.

"Bucky?"

Maria furrowed her brow, preparing her legs for the kick she was about to give the Winter Soldier.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" he asked, lifting his hand in which a gun was now resting again.

However, before he even had the chance to point it at Steve, Sam flew over him, Maria jumping down on him, securing her legs around his torso before flinging him to the side. The gun fell out of his hands and Maria grabbed it, pointing it at the Winter Soldier as she did while Sam landed next to her. The Winter Soldier looked up from where he lay a few meters away from them, his eyes glaring over at Maria and Sam before they flickered over at Steve. His gaze softened, Maria frowning because of this. Somehow, she got the vibe that they knew each other. Besides… She vaguely remembered Steve having talked about one of his friends from before the icing, who was called Bucky. Perhaps they indeed did knew each other.

She didn't have much time to think about it though as suddenly, the Winter Soldier grabbed something from his belt, dropping it right before him. Maria was about to shoot, when she saw that it had been a smoke bomb and when the smoke vanished, the Winter Soldier had vanished too. She lowered her gun with a sigh, knowing they had missed their opportunity in ending this. Yet, at the same time, if she had pulled the trigger, would it actually have ended?

The sound of sirens suddenly filled the air before multiple black cars appeared, surrounding the four of them. More soldiers came out, pointing their guns at the four of them and forcing them to raise their hands. Maria dropped her gun, placing her hands behind her head as she saw that Steve rose his hands as well. They were too many to fight and either way, they would've been caught.

Maria rolled her eyes as she saw Rumlow start to surround Steve, forcing him to drop his shield before they arrested him. Multiple soldiers walked over to Natasha and Sam, doing the same to them, before one lonely soldier walked over to Maria. He was wearing a helmet which shielded his identity and his gun was pointed at Maria. She did as Sam and Natasha had been forced to do and dropped to her knees, waiting on the soldier to handcuff her.

"Hello, Maria," said a familiar voice, causing Maria to look up at the soldier as he stopped in front of her. Slowly, he removed his helmet, revealing to Maria who he was to which she could only glare. "Missed me?"

"Artur."

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	22. Chapter 22, Together

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 22~  
Together**

Artur's hands held a tight grip on Maria's upper arms as he waited until Steve, Natasha and Sam had been secured in the truck before pushing her forwards. She nearly tripped as she climbed up into the truck, Artur continuing to push her forwards as if he was afraid she'd get away even with the massive amount of armed soldiers around them. He placed her next to Steve, double-checking the handcuffs before he straightened his back.

Maria glared up at him as he lingered there, looking at her with a strange mix of feelings in his eyes. She could read regret coming off of him, yet she didn't understand why. Yes, he seemed to not want to hurt her, yet at the same time, he was working for Hydra now. If he truly didn't want to hurt her, he would never have agreed to work with them again in the first place.

With a sigh, Artur turned away and jumped out of the truck, closing the doors as he did.

"Jerk…" mumbled Maria under her breath, fumbling a little with the handcuffs before she gave up, leaning her head against the cool side of the truck.

Her eyes scanned her surroundings. There were two soldiers placed inside with them, yet they barely moved. For all Maria knew, they could be robots or dolls placed there only to scare them into not trying to escape. The helmets they wore shielded their faces and so, she couldn't see who they were nor if they were indeed real soldiers. Though she pushed the stupid thoughts about robots and dolls away from her mind, realizing how crazy they sounded shortly after they had appeared.

Worry latched itself onto Maria even though she didn't show it on the outside. Most likely, they were going to be taken back to SHIELD's headquarters which now, unofficially, was Hydra's base as well. It would mean that no one would be able to stop the helicarriers from lifting, meaning that millions of people would die. Not only that, but who knew what Hydra would do to them once they were there? Torture?

Steve - who was sitting next to her cuffed in some pretty heavy handcuffs and metal cuffs around his chest to make it impossible for the super soldier to get out - was looking down at his lap and as the truck moved over the road, his head bobbed slightly up and down from the movement of the truck. From the strange look on his face, Maria saw he was deep in thought. Slowly, she diverted her gaze to Sam and Natasha who were sitting on the opposite of the truck.

Natasha looked awful. She had been shot through the shoulder by the Winter Soldier and Maria could see it was bleeding heavily. Her face was getting paler and paler by the minute and she looked tired. Sam saw the same thing as Maria and kept on giving her worried glances. It wasn't until Natasha leaned her head against the side of the truck, letting out a groan, that Sam shifted to get a better look on her wound.

One of the soldiers suddenly pointed his weapon at Sam, clearly not enjoying the fact that Sam was moving. Maria rolled her eyes at the soldier; "He's checking her wound. Nothing more."

Sam nodded his head at the soldier who slowly relaxed again.

"This is bad…" murmured Sam, earning a look from Natasha.

Softly, Maria brushed her shoulder against Steve's, earning Steve's attention.

"What's up?" she asked quietly.

"It was him," he said simply, earning a confused look. "Bucky. We were friends back in the days…"

"Really?" asked Maria, frowning.

Steve had been iced for the past seventy years which was the reason for why he had survived. Not only that, but also the super soldier serum in his blood had caused him to stay alive. Bucky had neither of that and even if he had lived for seventy years, he would've been an old man and not an assassin with the face of a man in his late twenties.

"I know what you're all thinking," said Steve, commenting on the silence that had followed his previous sentence. "It _was_ him… And he looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

"How is that even possible?" asked Sam, shaking his head slightly as he let Natasha's wound be for a while. "It was like, seventy years ago."

"Zola… Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43 and Zola experimented on him," said Steve, once again looking down at his hands. "Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall."

"The fall?" asked Maria quietly, not sure whether or not the subject was too emotional for him to want to talk about or not.

"He died before I managed to stop the Red Skull… He… fell," said Steve, a frown appearing on his face which made Maria regret having asked. "They must have found him and-"

"None of that is your fault," breathed Natasha, having seen the familiar look on Steve's face just as Maria had.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky," said Steve quietly, Maria's heart sinking slightly at the pained tone in his voice.

Slowly, Maria moved her cuffed hands onto Steve's arm, earning a look from him. She didn't smile nor did she show any other emotion. All she wanted him to know was that she was there for him. He nodded his head in response before both of their attention was drawn by Sam.

"We need to get a doctor here," said Sam, directing his statement to the soldiers in the truck. "If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck."

The soldiers reacted only by pointing their weapons at Sam. Maria once again glared at the soldiers, prepared to kick them even though she knew she'd get shot if she did. Though, something else happened. The soldier to the left suddenly thrust the back of his gun against the other soldier's head, knocking him out in the progress. The four heroes all raised their eyebrows, watching as the soldier removed his helmet.

"Hill!" exclaimed Maria, the helmet being gone and indeed showing the face of Maria Hill.

"Ah, that thing was squeezing my brain," said Hill, relief flooding through Maria as she realized that they weren't going to Hydra's base anymore.

"She with you?" asked Sam, making Hill look at him.

"Who's this guy?" asked Hill, perplexed.

"Sam, meet Maria Hill from SHIELD. Maria, meet Sam Wilson. Former pararescuer," introduced Steve, nodding at the two of them.

"Nice meeting you," said Sam, cocking his head to the side before glancing over at Steve. "Are all women you work with beautiful?"

"Really? Now?" asked Maria, sharing a look with Hill.

Sam shrugged. "Never a bad moment to compliment a lady."

"Stop it," said Steve, amusement being heard in his voice.

"They're taking you to a solitude place to end you," said Hill, growing serious again. Maria raised her eyebrows, surprised that Hydra wasn't even going to bring them to their base to question them. Apparently, all they wanted was for them to be out of the way. "So, once we arrive, we're going to have to be quick."

"How? And where will we go once we're out?" asked Sam, Hill turning to the unconscious soldier.

"Don't worry, we've got a plan," said Hill, her hands quickly searching the soldier for something and as she found it, she smiled widely. "Here we go," she said before un-cuffing Maria's hands with the help of the keys she just found.

Soon, all four heroes were free from their handcuffs, Steve being able to move freely again. In Hill's hands, a strange mechanism was resting, resembling a small rod. However, Maria doubted that it was what it looked like.

* * *

Artur pressed his foot on the brake as the car before him came to a stop. They were there. There at the location where Artur was going to have to kill Maria. His hands held a tight grip on the steering wheel and as Rumlow exited the car in front of him, gesturing for him to get out as well, Artur had to nearly pry his own fingers away from the steering wheel. With tense movements and a heavy heart, Artur slammed the car door shut behind him, praying to some higher force that Maria and her friends had managed to get away.

"Three holes. Start digging," said Rumlow to a pair of soldiers who nodded and walked off, shovels in their hands.

"This is it," said Rumlow, glancing back at Artur who reluctantly was following him to the van in which Captain America, Maria and their friends were being kept. "This is your time to show us where you stand."

With a gesture towards the two soldiers standing at the van, he ordered them to open it. While they did that, Rumlow took out a pistol and handed it to Artur.

"Specially made for little Dalton," said Rumlow as Artur hesitantly took the pistol, inspecting it.

Its small size made it fit in his hand perfectly and as he held it up in front of him, the light weight of it made it easy to aim. As he double-checked the ammo, he noticed that it was loaded with the familiar purple bullets.

"Sir!" exclaimed a voice from the backside of the van, causing both Artur and Rumlow to run over to him.

"Impossible!" exclaimed Rumlow angrily, punching the side of the van.

Much to Artur's delight, the van was empty, only a hole in the bottom of the van that reached down far into the earth below them left behind. Both Steve, Maria, Sam and Natasha were gone and he had to bite his lip in order to refrain from smirking. He placed his new pistol into an empty holster on his leg before crossing his arms over his chest, immediately seeing the amateur job Rumlow was doing as a leader.

"There were two soldiers in there, right?" asked Artur, earning the attention from Rumlow. "One's gone. They got help from inside."

"That's not possible. These are all _my_ men," said Rumlow angrily, taking a step towards Artur.

"Did you double check before you left? You _always_ double check before you leave," mocked Artur, enjoying the fact that Maria was safe and far away from him where she'd be safe.

Rumlow's face suddenly grew dark and he stepped closer to Artur, placing his face near his, invading Artur's personal space and at the same time managing to intimidate him. Artur's smugness disappeared and he looked away from Rumlow, knowing he'd gone too far.

"Don't think you've gotten away from your mission, Kuznetsov," he said through gritted teeth. "If they're still out there, they'll be found and killed soon."

* * *

"This is… disgusting," mumbled Maria, a hand covering her nose and mouth.

"At least we'll be getting out," said Sam, giving her a pointed look to which Maria pouted.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," she shot back, grimacing as she once again stepped into something lumpy and squishy, the sound making her stomach turn.

They were walking through the sewers after having jumped down the hole Hill had dug for them once the car had stopped. The rod in her hands had been a sort of laser with which Hill had managed to dig the deep hole in under a minute. Now, their shoes were getting wet from the strange goo that existed on the ground and all around them, disgusting fumes could be smelled, causing the five of them to cover their noses as best as possible.

In front of Maria, Natasha was walking with weak steps. The jump down had hurt her quite a lot and although they had wanted to get away from the opening, Natasha had needed a minute to recover before they could start moving. Luckily, Hydra's soldiers hadn't decided to follow them.

"You should be happy it hasn't rained in a while," said Hill, making Maria frown and shiver. "The goo would've been up to our shoulders then."

At the end of the tunnel, there was a metal ladder. Hill stopped in front of it before she started to climb up, opening the maintenance panel that existed at the top with ease before gesturing to the rest to follow behind her.

"Can you climb?" asked Steve as Natasha was the first to go.

She glanced at him, simply nodding her head as she grabbed the ladder, frowning at the pain in her shoulder before sucking in a deep breath as she started to climb. Maria cringed at the pain Natasha must've felt and she wished she somehow could transfer her healing abilities to Natasha temporarily. Though it didn't work like that. In fact, Maria didn't even know how it worked at all.

Sam was the next one to climb the ladder, following slowly behind Natasha and watching her every move, ready to grab her should she lose her grip.

"You lost a lot of blood," said Steve suddenly, causing Maria to look over at him.

"Yeah. But I'm fine now," said Maria, offering him a smile.

"I know. But… You lost a lot of blood."

Maria nodded her head, understanding what he was saying; "The bullets. They hindered the wound from healing."

"What bullets?" asked Steve, furrowing his brow.

"I don't know. I brought one with me for Stark to analyze," said Maria before sighing. "It might mean that Hydra knows something I don't know."

Steve stayed silent, instead walking over to her and wrapping an arm around her waist, gently pushing her against him in a warm hug. Above them, Hill and Sam were helping Natasha through the opening still and Maria let her arms wrap around him, seeing as they had the time.

"Whatever it means," said Steve, his chin resting on top of her head; "we'll figure it out."

"As we will with Bucky," said Maria, gently moving backwards and looking up at him with sympathetic eyes. "Together."

"Together," he said with a nod before he placed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Okay, next!" called Hill from the topside, causing Maria and Steve to look up.

"Come on," said Steve, letting go of Maria and gesturing for her to start climbing.

Before she did, though, she placed a gentle kiss against his cheek, causing him to smile.

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	23. Chapter 23, The Return of Fury

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 23~  
The Return of Fury**

Hill led the four heroes towards a van parked a few feet away from where they exited the sewers. They ignored the confused looks from passing-by civilians though Maria couldn't help but smirk slightly when a small boy gasped and pointed towards Steve, recognizing him as Captain America. Although Steve didn't react, Maria could see the faintest hint of a smile in his eyes, knowing he enjoyed it as well.

"Here we go," said Hill, opening the back of a black van. "We'll take you to our hide-out."

"We?" asked Maria, entering the van behind her friends.

The moment she did, she got the answer to her question and her lips curled up into a happy smile.

"Martin!" she exclaimed, pushing past her friends and up to where he was seated, a laptop in his lap and his glasses far down his nose.

He smiled at her before his smile was replaced by a surprised look as she wrapped her arms around him, causing Martin to drop his glasses and nearly his laptop. Maria smiled even though the man was tense throughout the entire hug. She had been worried about him and after their phone call, she had been curious about where he had gone.

"You made it," she said as she let go of the man, Hill starting up the van and driving away.

"Yeah," he said simply, his eyes glancing over at the three other heroes sitting in the van, looking at Maria and Martin with interested eyes.

"How'd you get away from Hydra?" asked Steve.

Neither Natasha nor Steve really knew Martin. Of course, they had heard of him and seen him before, but since he had worked mostly with Maria, they didn't really know each other. Martin was still an outcast at SHIELD, a newbie, and so, not a lot of people knew about him. Perhaps, that was one of the reasons he had managed to slip away when he did. That, and because he still had no office at SHIELD's base.

"After Maria warned me about the entire thing happening at SHIELD, I left and kind of jumped between motels for a day or two. Then, out of the blue, I get a strange call from none other than Maria. Uh- Hill. Before I know it, I end up with what remains of those loyal to Fury. Well, we do know that there are some more inside who are loyal to us. Like Agent 13, Phil Cou-"

"There's a secret base somewhere that still follows Fury? Even after his death?" asked Sam, interrupting the last ramblings of Martin who finally picked up his glasses and put them back on.

"Yeah, of course," said Martin, frowning slightly. "Um… who are you?"

"Sam Wilson," replied Sam, stretching out his hand to Martin. "So, are you like, SHIELD's Q or something?"

Martin blinked a couple of times, a silence filling the van to which Sam cringed.

"What's Q?" asked Steve innocently to which Maria smiled.

"Q's James Bond's… co-worker," replied Maria before smiling over at Sam. "He is."

"Okay, very funny," said Martin quietly, earning a smirk from Maria. Quietly, he whispered; "I'm not a nerd…" to which Maria only continued to smile. The happy feeling in the van disappeared however as Martin noticed Natasha sitting at the far end of the van, looking hurt and pale; "Is she alright?"

All eyes were diverted to Natasha who noticed this and groaned, furrowing her brow. "I'm fine."

"She got shot," answered Steve. "By the Winter Soldier."

Martin widened his eyes, closing his laptop and placing it on Maria's lap instead. Quickly, he took out a small first aid kit before shuffling his way past the heroes to where Natasha was seated, crouching down next to her.

"You fought him?" asked Martin, looking back at Steve who nodded.

"Yeah, we did. He's Bucky," said Steve while Martin took a look on the wound, starting to work on how to stop as much of the bleeding as possible with what he had. Bandages, Band-Aids and tape.

"Well… whoever he is, he's working for Hydra," said Sam, Steve's gaze staring down at the floor of the van. "We can't really let him simply be."

"He's going to try and stop us," said Maria. "You saw proof of that today."

Steve nodded, Maria's heart aching slightly at the thought that they were going to have to fight him at some point. Knowing Steve, he'd want to do it himself and since he was, whether you believe it or not, a very sensitive man, he'd end up not wanting to hurt Bucky and try to talk him out of whatever trans he was in.

"What did they do to him to make him turn into that?" asked Martin, double checking Natasha's shoulder before placing her hand over it, silently telling her to keep putting pressure on the wound.

"No idea," replied Steve. "All I know is that it can't have been pretty."

* * *

The doors of the back of the van were opened by Hill and all five of them exited. The four heroes were surprised to find themselves somewhere out in the woods. The van had stopped in front of, what looked like, an old hydroelectric power plant. However, it wasn't in use anymore. The place looked overgrown with plants and its doors looked rusty. Not to mention that it was rather silent for a place where people worked.

Steve and Sam helped Natasha out of the van before following Hill towards the entrance. Martin and Maria followed suit, shutting the van's doors behind them.

"So, this is where you've been hiding then?" asked Maria, her eyes taking in her surroundings.

For some reason, the main thing she noticed, were the birds chirping. Since, for the past couple of days, Maria had had no real time to actually relax - a part from when they stayed at Sam's house - the sound of birds caused her body to long for some relaxation.

"Yup," said Martin, holding his laptop underneath his right arm. "No one knows we're here."

Maria didn't reply, instead she watched as the doors were opened for them by a soldier, Steve and Sam helping Natasha inside.

"I'm scared of what's going to happen," she said suddenly.

Martin stopped walking, causing Maria to stop as well. She didn't look at him as he barely even knew where does words had come from. It was just that, now that they could relax slightly, everything seemed to sink in. Artur was after her. The Winter Soldier was after her. And Hydra was after killing the majority of the population on Earth.

"I never signed up for something this big," she continued. "I was just a girl from Hell's Kitchen, stopping thieves from getting away. And now, I'm saving the world. For the _second_ time."

"That's not what's bothering you though, is it?" asked Martin, using his index finger to lift his glasses up slightly as they had slid down his nose again.

"It's just… They know something about me, Martin," said Maria quietly, noticing how Steve had turned towards them over by the entrance.

"Maria!?" he called. "Hill wants to show us something."

Maria nodded her head before starting to walk again. However, Martin placed a hand on her arm, hindering her from doing so.

"Whatever it is they know… We'll figure it out," said Martin. "I know we will."

Maria nodded before the two of them walked over to Steve who looked between them; "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, of course," replied Maria simply before walking past him into the building.

Behind her, Martin and Steve shared a look. They quickly started to follow Hill down the power plant, the lights above their heads only dimly lightning up the hallway as they walked. However, it was light enough for them to notice a man in a suit running towards them.

"GSW," called Hill to the man, seeming to recognize him. "She's lost at least a pint."

Maria realized they were talking about Natasha and she quickly glanced over at her, seeing her pale face and tired eyes.

"Let me take her," said the man as he continued to run towards them.

"She'll want to see him first," replied Hill, the man stopping in front of them nodding his head.

Maria glanced between Hill and the unknown man before the four heroes and Martin started to follow Hill and the man down the corridor. They were talking silently and quickly about things Maria couldn't hear, though she didn't mind not knowing what they were talking about. Her own mind was only thinking about Hydra and what they possibly could have on her. Sure, she accidentally used to work for them, but surely that wasn't it?

Suddenly, she felt a burning sensation where her jeans pocket was and she remembered the purple bullet that was in there; those purple bullets that the Winter Soldier had fired at her. She contemplated whether or not it was something about her abilities. Did they know where they came from and how they worked? In that case, how were they supposed to know that?

"In here," said Hill, loud enough for them to hear as they followed her and the man through a rusty door.

From having walked through a dirty old hallway, they now were in an equally as dirty and old looking hallway filled with technology and better light. Though, as Hill and the man once again entered a door, it wasn't the light that interested Maria anymore. Instead, it was the bed at the end of the room and the person who was lying in it.

"About damn time," said Fury as he lay on the bed, noticing the four heroes who had entered. "Doc, agent Romanoff looks like she needs you as bad as I did."

Maria parted her lips slightly in shock before she came to her senses and shook her head softly. She and Steve had seen him die. They had seen him get shot. They had watched as the doctors tried to save him, though failing. How was he alive?

Softly, the unknown man helped Natasha over to a chair before he started to care for her wound at the same time as she and the rest of the heroes remained silent and listened to Fury as he continued to speak.

Martin placed himself behind the heroes, already knowing about Fury being alive, while Hill remained next to them.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache," said Fury with a sigh.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," said the doctor, causing Maria to glance at him and then back at Fury.

"Let's not forget about that," he said before using a remote control to lift part of the bed up slightly so that he could sit more upright. Although it seemed to hurt him, he still did it, his eyes scanning every single hero before nodding his head ever so slightly. "But otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open and your heart stopped," said Natasha, saying the thing Maria knew everyone was thinking.

"Tetrodotoxin B," said Fury simply. "Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him but we found a use for it."

"Why all the secrecy?" asked Steve, his hands tucked into his pockets. "Why not just tell us?"

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," replied Hill, causing Maria to look over at her, remembering how sad she had looked when Fury's heart had stopped. Truly, she was a good actor.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," continued Fury. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

* * *

"Sir, he's unstable," said the soldier who was standing guard outside of the chamber.

Both Rumlow and Artur followed Pierce as he ignored the soldier's words and simply entered.

"Mission report," said Pierce, stopping in front of the Winter Soldier. As he didn't reply immediately, Artur narrowed his eyes, looking into the soldier's eyes and seeing what Artur had seen that night a couple of months back.

Hydra had sent the Winter Soldier to Artur to help in his search for Maria. They had found her together though she hadn't been alone. She had been with Steve Rogers and the Winter Soldier had started to act… different. As Artur hadn't wanted to interfere, nearly causing the Winter Soldier to look relieved, they had sent someone else to do the dirty work. After he had failed, they had ended him as he would've told someone about how they had used him which had been against their orders. The Winter Soldier hadn't always been cold. Artur had seen that their last night together.

The next time they had met, he hadn't even remembered Artur. They had erased his memory again, saying he had been unstable. That same look was in the Winter Soldier's eyes now as had been that night when he had seen Steve Rogers. A look of confusion topped with some sadness.

"Mission report, now!"

Pierce walked over to him, leaning forwards slightly and, seeing as his words had barely been heard by the Winter Soldier, he slapped him right in the face. Artur flinched though composed himself fast enough for no one to notice.

"The man on the bridge. Who was he?" asked the Winter Soldier, causing Artur to glance over at Rumlow and the rest of the soldiers guarding him, not seeing any real reaction from them.

"You met him earlier this week on another assignment," said Pierce simply.

"I knew him," said the Winter Soldier, his eyes suddenly looking over at Artur. "I knew him."

Artur discreetly nodded his head, making the Winter Soldier widen his eyes slightly before looking back at Pierce. Rumlow turned his head towards Artur who simply ignored him, trying his best to act as though he hadn't done anything.

"Your work has been a gift to mankind," said Pierce, sitting down on a small chair in front of the Winter Soldier. "You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time. Society's at a tipping point between order and chaos. And tomorrow morning, we're gonna give it a push. But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine. And Hydra can't give the world the freedom it deserves."

"But… I knew him," said the Winter Soldier simply.

Pierce sighed before standing back up again and turning to the two scientists who had been standing in the room with them.

"Prep him," he said simply, causing the Winter Soldier's eyes to glance over at Artur again.

"He's been out of cryo-freeze too long," said one of the lab coated scientists.

"Then wipe him and start over," said Pierce through gritted teeth before he walked out of the room again, Artur and Rumlow following.

Before Artur exited the room, he looked back at the Winter Soldier one last time, not missing the scared look he had on his face as the scientists walked up to him. With a lump in his throat, Artur turned away and walked out of the room before the soldier's screams could be heard even through the walls.

* * *

 **Hey! So, I hope you liked this chapter. There's going to be one more chapter before we get to the part where things start to happen. Meaning the last fight. I'm really nervous for that last fight actually... but I'm sure I'll get through it alright! I just want to ask if you can give me some feedback on Artur. Like, what you think of him, if he annoys you, if you skip the parts that are about him, if you like him and so on. It's important to me just so I know which plot I'm going to follow in future chapters 'cause I kind of have two plots and I can't choose! So, feedback would be appreciated. Not something big if you don't feel like it, just... something... :)**

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	24. Chapter 24, Achilles' Heel

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 24~  
Achilles' Heel**

Softly, Maria knocked on the door even though it was already open. After all, she didn't want to simply burst inside uninvited. When she heard a murmur from inside sounding a lot like a yes, Maria placed her palm against the cold, metal door before pushing it open, entering the small room which Natasha was residing in. The four heroes had all gotten a room each to stay in while they were at the secret hide-out of Fury. Even though they weren't luxurious or nice in any other way, it was still better than having to flee from Hydra. Currently, they were safe.

For a while now, Maria had simply been sat in her room, trying to think of something to do. What she wanted to do was go out there and end it all since she knew that, as long as the world was in grave danger, she wouldn't be able to sleep nor eat. When she hadn't been able to find Steve in his room and after having contemplated whether or not she wanted to get lost in the big building trying to find him, she decided to go and visit Natasha instead to see if she was okay.

"Hey," said Maria softly, seeing Natasha standing in front of the mirror, wearing a sleeveless shirt and a pair of jeans. She was inspecting her bandaged shoulder, her fingertips tracing the fabric wrapped around it. "You okay?"

"Much better," replied Natasha, turning away from the mirror to look at Maria.

A silence filled the room and Maria looked down at her feet, her mind racing as she tried to think of any ideas for a normal conversation.

"What about you? You were shot too," said Natasha, sitting down on the bed.

Slowly, Maria sat down next to Natasha, nodding her head as she did. "I was. But I healed, as always."

"Steve told me," said Natasha, earning a look from Maria. "About the bullets."

Maria sighed, pulling out the bullet she still had in her pocket to show it to the assassin. Natasha cocked her head to the side, watching the bullet with fascination as it rested in the palm of Maria's hand.

"So, it hindered you from healing…" said Natasha, glancing up at Maria's face.

"Yeah… Hydra knows something," said Maria before closing her hand around the bullet, letting her clenched hand rest on her knee where once the wound had been. "It scares the crap out of me."

It was the truth. Not only did the fact that the world was in danger keep her appetite away, but also the fact that Hydra knew more about her than she herself did.

"Maybe Banner can help after all this is over," said Natasha with a sigh as she stood up again, walking over to the desk standing against the opposite wall. She grabbed the jumper that was laying there and pulled it on, grimacing slightly as she had to move her shoulder.

"Maybe…" said Maria before an idea popped into her head. "I've gotta go."

"Where?" asked Natasha as she watched Maria stand up and walk towards the door.

"Martin," was Maria's only answer before she left Natasha alone in her room again.

It took longer than Maria had wanted it to take before she found Martin. She made sure to only go where the lights were turned on yet even then, she had managed to get lost at least twice before she found herself somewhere familiar again. Martin was in the same room as Fury and Hill were. The two of them were silently talking and even though Maria was surprised to find Fury out of bed already, she wasn't as surprised as she was when she found him alive.

Martin sat in a corner at a desk, typing away at his laptop furiously, almost looking a little stressed. Maria didn't really want to go over to him, seeing as he looked busy, though she knew that this was important and if she didn't get information about this soon, she knew she'd only end up on a mission without her head clear which might endanger the entire mission.

"Martin?" asked Maria quietly, causing him to snap his head around to look at her, his eyes wide.

"Yes?" he asked, his tense figure relaxing slightly as he saw her.

"Am I interrupting something?" asked Maria, offering him an apologetic smile.

"Oh… Uh, no. Just writing an e-mail," said Martin with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh… For who?" asked Maria, sitting down next to Martin at the edge of the desk.

He cleared his throat, looking back at the laptop in front of him before smiling; "My mum. She doesn't know where I am or why I had to leave so quickly… I don't want her to worry."

Maria smiled, nodding her head. "That's sweet of you."

A blush appeared on Martin's cheeks before he once again cleared his throat; "Did you need my help with something?"

"Oh, yes," replied Maria, taking out the bullet she still was clutching in her hand. "I was shot earlier today…"

"Are you okay?" asked Martin, suddenly alarmed to which Maria chuckled slightly.

"I'm fine. I heal, remember?" said Maria, smiling at Martin's look of realization. "But… I didn't heal immediately. I had to get the bullets out before I could heal."

"What do you mean?" asked Martin, furrowing his brow and leaning back in his chair, the serious expression on his face almost making the young man age twenty years.

"This," said Maria, placing the bullet on the desk in between them; "was in my leg."

Martin frowned, adjusting his glasses slightly before leaning in towards the bullet to see it more clearly, his eyes narrowing. For a while, there was just complete silence filling the air and it wasn't until Martin leaned back again, the same frown still on his face, that Maria spoke up once more.

"I was hoping you could get some data on it, to see what caused it to do that… I know you're more of a hacker but-"

"Yeah, I could get some data," said Martin, nodding his head as he grabbed the bullet and placed it on a small tablet.

Maria raised an eyebrow at his antics, wondering what he was doing. He seemed to have sensed her bewilderment as he looked over at her and smirked.

"It's a little something I came up with myself," said Martin before starting up a program on his laptop, causing the tablet to start glowing with a strange mix of grey and blue.

"What does it do?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

"This," replied Martin as he pressed enter, a picture of the bullet ending up on the screen of his laptop.

"Wow… it's a picture. How… high-tech," said Maria sarcastically, earning a glare from Martin.

" _This_ ," repeated Martin before pressing enter once more, showing off tons of boxes filled with tiny letters. From each box, a line was drawn towards the place on the bullet that the text referred to. And, on closer inspection, Maria saw things on the picture that she hadn't seen on the bullet before. Such as marks from where the bullet had exited the gun in high velocity or the tiny splash of blood that still existed on one piece of the bullet. The one thing that stood out the most, which also was what Martin zoomed in on, was the fact that the color of the bullet, purple, was actually not just a color. It was a strange substance that someone had smeared onto the bullet. On certain places, once again something you couldn't see with the naked eye, the substance was gone, probably having dissolved inside of Maria's leg.

"What is it?" asked Maria quietly, Martin zooming in on the text referring to the substance.

"It's a rare sort of… acid," said Martin, frowning. "Used way back in the days to remove blood stains on any kind of material. It dissolves blood but it's not used anymore due to the…"

"Toxic fumes that dissolved one's DNA…" read Maria, looking at Martin who quickly opened up his web browser. "What does that mean?"

"Maria… The name…" said Martin silently, starting to type again.

"What about it?" asked Maria, not having read it.

She looked back at the screen, seeing Martin go to Google (which under other circumstances would've been hilarious in Maria's eyes) and type in the name of the acid.

 _Hydrus Acidulus._

As he pressed enter, multiple articles came up. All of which were about the deaths of _mutants_.

"Maybe they know something about you… Or, they simply took a shot," said Martin, looking back at Maria. "This acid has been used before by 'ordinary' people in attempts to murder mutants. All of which succeeded."

"Why did they kill them?" asked Maria quietly, her eyes scanning the multiple articles as Martin continued to scroll down, the articles never seeming to end.

"Fear… Fear of change. Fear of new things."

"So… this acid is… like my Achilles' Heel or something?" asked Maria, earning a shrug from Martin.

"I honestly don't know. But, it looks like it."

"How? And why?" asked Maria to which Martin could only shrug.

"That's more of a question for an actual scientist…"

 _"This man declined the Noble Peace Prize,"_ said Fury louder than he had been talking earlier, causing both Martin and Maria to look over at him.

There, he and Hill were still sitting. However, now Steve, Sam and Natasha were there as well.

"Thank you, Martin," said Maria quietly, earning a nod from Martin.

"You want the bullet?" he asked back in the same hushed voice. "If you want, I can make it into a file with all the info we just got and then put it on a USB. So you can bring it with you to Stark."

"Thanks," said Maria, patting his shoulder before standing up and walking over to where Fury and Hill were.

"-It's stuff like this that gives me trust issues," said Fury as Maria stopped next to Sam, the two of them exchanging a look and nodding a silent hello towards each other.

"We have to stop the launch," said Natasha, looking over at Steve who nodded his head.

"I don't think the council's accepting my calls anymore," said Fury before opening a black case that was resting on the desk before him.

In it, three - what looked like - computer chips magnified ten times, lay.

"What's that?" asked Sam.

"Once the helicarriers reach 3000 feet," said Hill, turning a small laptop around for the four heroes to see what she was explaining; "they'll triangulate the Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized."

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," added Fury, making Maria understand that the computer chips were those targeting blades.

"One of two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die," said Hill, causing Maria to feel a sudden pressure placed on her shoulders. One wrong move, and _a lot_ of people were going to die.

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is Hydra. We have to get past them, insert these server blades and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left-" said Fury before Steve cut him off.

"We're not salvaging anything," said Steve harshly, causing everyone to look over at him. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down SHIELD."

"Steve," started Maria, though Fury cut her off.

"SHIELD had nothing to do with this," said Fury simply.

"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends," said Steve simply, a long silence filling the room after he had said this. "SHIELD's been compromised. You said so yourself. Hydra grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? _I_ noticed," said Fury, clearly not wanting to give up SHIELD as easily as Steve was.

"How many paid the price before you did?" asked Steve, the harsh tone still evident and Maria almost immediately understood what it was all about.

Fury looked between Maria and Hill for a while, seeming to also understand what Steve was talking about. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes-" he started, though Steve shook his head.

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too?" asked Steve, another silence following his words. "SHIELD. Hydra. It all goes."

"He's right," said Hill silently, earning a look from Fury.

As he looked over at Maria, she too nodded her head, agreeing with what Steve was saying. Perhaps Fury could start something new. Though to continue with SHIELD even after everything that had happened, was wrong. That, Fury had to understand. After all, who knew what more had been growing right underneath of their noses?

"Don't look at me," said Sam as Fury looked at him, having gotten nods from each and everyone else. "I do what he does. Only slower."

Maria smirked at that.

"Well… Looks like you're giving the orders now, captain," said Fury, leaning back in his seat.

Steve slowly nodded his head. "I see we need someone inside. Someone to delete all the files."

"You can't delete them," replied Hill.

"So, we publish them for the whole world to see. That way, SHIELD will not exist anymore in secret. And if it can't exist in secret, it can't exist at all," said Maria, earning a nod from Steve.

"How do we get someone inside?" asked Natasha.

"I think I can help with that," said Martin, all eyes turning to look at him as he walked over to them, holding something in his hands. "The council's coming to 'SHIELD' tomorrow to, probably, talk about project Insight. I say we use that as an opportunity to get inside."

"It's a good plan," said Steve. "But how?"

"With these," replied Martin, holding up a strange wobbly square made out of, what looked like plastic. On it, multiple dots existed and Maria could do nothing but frown at the odd thing. "Designed it myself. Makes you, uh, change your features."

"And it works?" asked Steve.

"I guarantee you that," said Martin with a nod of his head.

"Okay. Maria, Sam and I take a helicarrier each. Natasha," said Steve. "You make sure that SHIELD's files are out there before sun-down…"

* * *

The plan was ready. In the early next morning, they all had their own parts to play in saving the world. A part of Maria couldn't wait until the next evening because it all would be over then. That is, if everything goes according to the plan.

She stood leaning against the wall of the hallway where each and everyone's current rooms were. Her head hung low and she nervously bit on her lip, something she had never done before. She hoped it wouldn't become a habit of hers since the faint taste of blood in her mouth almost made her gag. She had never enjoyed the vague iron taste of it and once when she accidentally had bit her tongue when falling over as a child, she had thrown up twice because of that very taste.

"You okay?" asked Sam, suddenly appearing next to her and making her jump slightly.

She sighed, nodding her head. "Yeah… As okay as you can be when you're about to have the fate of a million people on your shoulders."

Sam made a face of understanding, humming a yes. "I'll be there by your side tomorrow. Ain't nothing gonna happen to you."

Maria scoffed at his words, smiling as well. "Sounds like I'm the one who's going to save the world for the first time, not you."

"Well," said Sam, joining Maria in leaning against the wall. "If you're not calm and ready for action… Cap isn't going to be either."

A frown appeared on her face as he said this. "You've spoken to him?"

"Yeah. About this Winter Soldier," replied Sam, earning a look from Maria. "He's going to be there tomorrow."

"Yeah… He is," hummed Maria.

For a while, there was a simple silence hanging in the air. Not an uncomfortable one, but a silence that the two agreed on since both simply wanted to think for a while. Mostly over what was going to happen the upcoming day.

"Where is he?" asked Maria quietly, breaking the silence and making Sam look over at her.

"In his room," he replied, Maria immediately pushing away from the wall.

"I'll see you tomorrow," said Maria, earning a nod from Sam who followed her with his gaze as she walked away from him towards Steve's door.

She knocked three times, hearing footsteps walking over towards the door before stepping back. Steve opened the door, seeming surprised to find Maria standing there.

"Hey," said Maria simply, nearly forgetting what she was doing there as her gaze met his piercing blue eyes.

"You don't have to knock," said Steve simply, explaining his surprised look as he stepped to the side, allowing Maria to enter.

"Well, it's your room after all," she replied, turning around as she stopped in the middle of the room, looking at Steve as he closed the door.

His smile faltered, his eyes avoiding Maria and although she wasn't surprised about the fact that he wasn't feeling all too well, it still hurt.

"Come," she said, grabbing his hand and sitting the two of them down on his bed.

Their hips touched along with their upper arms and a silence filled the room. She contemplated on what to say. Or rather, whether she should say something at all. Steve had already talked about it with Sam and even though she wasn't sure of exactly what they had said, she was unsure of whether or not he wanted to continue talking about it. Perhaps, all he needed was some silent comforting and a silent agreement that she was going to be there for him no matter what.

By the way Steve suddenly placed his arms around her, pressing her against him, she realized it was indeed the silence part he needed. With his arms still around her, Maria looked up at him, placing a hand against his cheek. They stared into each other's eyes for a while before gently pressing their lips against each other's in a soft kiss. The kiss felt a lot like an experiment from Steve's side to see whether or not that physical contact was something he needed in his current state of mind. As they broke apart, their lips close to each other, Maria waited silently, watching him think while his eyes darted between her lips and her eyes.

"It's going to be okay…" she said quietly, not quite sure about what she was talking; the whole ordeal with Bucky or the current mission they were going to face the next day, though it seemed to calm Steve down a little.

Softly, he placed his lips against hers again, the kiss being more needy than before and filled with much more emotion than before as well. Maria breathed in deeply during the kiss, afraid her breath might actually be taken away from her by the way he kissed her. It was different from other kisses they had shared and it was far more exciting. When Steve broke the kiss, leaning back slightly, Maria nearly followed him with her lips, craving more. Though, she composed herself. She closed her eyes as Steve softly traced her bottom lip with his thumb, Maria only looking up into his eyes again when she felt him hesitating slightly when his thumb brushed over the parts where she had bit her lip earlier. It stung slightly when he did this, though she ignored the feeling, her heart's desire being far more superior than the pinch of pain in her lip.

"I don't know… I don't know if it is going to be okay," said Steve quietly before he slowly placed his face in the crook of her neck, resting there for comfort and support.

Maria's heart started to race slightly, wanting Steve to feel better. All she could do was wrap her arms around him as best as she could to hold him against her in a, what she hoped was, a comforting hug. Silently and with one hand resting on the back of his head, she told him she was there for him. Silently, she wished he understood.

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	25. Chapter 25, Go Down With This Ship

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 25~  
I Will Go Down With This Ship**

A knock was heard on her door and Maria quickly stood up from her bed, seeing the door opening before she had been able to reply. Steve stood there, a serious expression on his face and her suit resting in his hands. She cocked her head to the side, giving him a questioning look.

"How did you get those?" asked Maria, grabbing her suit, boots and sword from his hands.

"Couldn't sleep," he replied and as Maria looked at him again, she noticed he too was wearing his suit. However, it wasn't his ordinary suit. It looked different and somehow better as well.

Maria hadn't been able to sleep either, though she hadn't gone out to fetch suits for the both of them. Instead, she had stayed in her room, thinking about every single possibility that could happen the upcoming day. Everything that could go wrong and everything that could go right.

"That's not your suit," concluded Maria, nodding towards him.

He smirked. "It was though. Oh, and that's not your suit. I couldn't risk going back home again so I simply grabbed what I could."

Quickly, she unfolded her suit over her bed, letting the boots and sword fall to the bed too. It was real leather though it definitely wasn't her suit. It had no belt and no place to hang her sword. As she looked down at her boots and sword, she didn't recognize those either.

"Whose sword is that?" she asked, looking back Steve.

"I got it from a manikin in the same museum I got my suit," said Steve, gesturing towards the clothes he was wearing. "It's the same one I wore during the war."

"And this sword?" she asked, picking it up and noticing how light and unbalanced it was.

Steve cleared his throat. "It was attached to the hand of the manikin representing Theodore Roosevelt."

Maria gawked at him, earning a shy look from Steve as he continued to speak; "Please don't ask me where I got the suit."

With narrowed eyes, Maria looked back at the suit in her hands before letting it drop onto the bed, frowning; "Gross…"

"It's something at least," said Steve, walking up to her. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Steve… It's a sword-" she said as he wrapped his arms around her, surprising her slightly though she leaned into him. "But it's not my sword. I can't fight with it."

"Then how are you supposed to defend yourself?" asked Steve, his eyes suddenly alert.

"I still have my dagger. Besides, I can probably borrow a gun from someone. I kind of enjoyed shooting people instead of having to get up close and endanger myself," said Maria, backing away from Steve and turning towards the 'suit' on her bed. "Did you really go into a sex-"

"Maria, just don't."

* * *

It went better this time, the flying part. She wasn't holding onto Sam this time and she wasn't freaking out even though they were much, _much_ , higher up into the air then last time. Over the night, Martin had worked on a contraption made out of magnets through which Sam could easily 'transport' Maria up towards the Helicarrier she was assigned to take out. She was simply attached to his belly, being able to shoot with the two side-arms she was allowed to borrow from Natasha.

Pressing a button - which Martin had installed only that morning - on Maria's 'suit', she was released from Sam before she jumped down into the Helicarrier. She turned back, watching Sam hover there for a while. He was wearing the same clothes as the guards working for Fury were; a uniform he had been allowed to borrow in order to both look a bit more heroic and to be a bit more covered since the guards wore bullet proof vests. Over his eyes, he wore glasses, something Maria had wanted to have as well so her eyes hadn't teared up as much as they had while they flew through the air in great speed. It had made aiming her side-arms much harder.

As she nodded her head, Sam mirrored her gesture before flying off, doing what he was supposed to do; take out the third Helicarrier. Placing both side-arms in the holsters Natasha had installed onto her 'suit' earlier that day, she started to run, knowing they didn't have all that much time to take the Helicarriers out.

Steve, Hill and Sam had taken the headquarters first before Maria had come into the picture. Natasha was most likely already inside, pretending to be one of the Council members which Pierce had asked to visit for an important meeting. Her job was to make all files from SHIELD public, along with the fact that Hydra existed once again.

Maria and Fury had arrived separately from the others. Mostly because Steve didn't want Maria to be involved in the danger he was putting himself in, but also because Maria wanted to keep Fury safe. After all, she had failed that the last time and she didn't intend to do it again. Though, while Fury entered after getting the clear sign from Steve, Maria had stayed outside, waiting for Sam to pick her up and take her to the Helicarrier.

"Nearly there," panted Maria to no one in particular as she ran towards the data core of the helicarrier.

As she ran, the chip brushed against her leg as it lay in her pocket and her hand rested on one of her side-arms, ready to grab it if someone tried something. This was it, if she failed this than the city beneath her would get destroyed; than the world would be destroyed. One ship was already done and, from what she had heard, Steve was still working on getting the second helicarrier ready. Martin kept her informed through the ear piece in her left ear. If everything went as planned, Sam would soon turn up at the entrance again. He would be her ticket out of there. He'd fly her away from the helicarrier and together with Natasha and Fury, they'd pick Steve up and everything would be alright. They'd have saved the world from Hydra's current plan and then they could continue with taking out the rest of Hydra, piece by piece.

She was so close to the core; she could have touched it if she had reached out her hand. Though something stopped her. The clicking sound of a safety being turned off did. Slowly, she turned around and gasped silently at the sight before her. Artur was standing there, a gun pointed at her head and a determined look on his face. Had it not been for his shaking hand, Maria would've actually thought that this was what he wanted. But after their meet up in the lower level of SHIELD and after having seen his trembling hand now, she wasn't very sure of what he wanted anymore. He was still Artur, he was still the man that had been after her for so long, the man that had ruined her life and he was still the killer she knew that he was. Though, on the other hand, Maria had done nearly half of the things he had done as well and now, she wouldn't even think about killing an innocent man.

"Artur-"

"Don't speak!" he exclaimed, taking a step closer to her, causing her to lift her hands up in the air, making sure that her face looked as calm as it could. "For years, I've been after you. I've been close so many times… but now, I'm not going to miss this opportunity again."

"Do it then," said Maria, her heartbeat quickening. She knew that this was a huge risk she was taking, but something told her that this man wouldn't kill her. He didn't back _then_ and he wouldn't now either. "Kill me. You have your shot now so take it!"

Artur's determined face fell and a conflicted look took its place. Slowly, the gun was lowered and Maria quickly turned around, placing the chip into the core, not bothering to even think through the fact that Artur could shoot her at any moment while her back was turned towards him. She pressed a finger to her earpiece and informed Hill that the third helicarrier was done. However, when she asked Steve for a report, she got no reply which worried her.

"I can't let you go," said Artur quietly from behind her, causing her to turn around again. Once again, he was standing with his gun pointed at her. "I can't… They gave me a second chance! I have to shoot you! I _will_ shoot you!"

Maria looked at him with confused eyes as tears sprung to his. This was not the Artur she knew. This was a different man and it confused her to see him behave like this; to show himself as weak in front of someone was not his act.

"No you won't," she replied, shaking her head.

"How do you know that!?" he screamed at her, grabbing his gun with both of his hands.

"Because I know you Artur. You've never failed to kill anyone. If I was your only chance to Hydra's confidence than you would've killed me either yourself or with the help of someone professional," said Maria, her words making Artur lower his gun slightly again as he stared at her with wide eyes. "And… because you saved me that night. You took me to the hospital. You didn't let me die. _That's_ an act of love."

"I never loved you," hissed Artur, falling over his words slightly as he did. "Don't you get it? It was all just an act to gain access to you!"

"I don't believe that," she replied, taking a step closer to him which only made him back away from her, doubt slowly rising in her chest. "One man can't fake that much for that long. It doesn't make any sense."

"I couldn't… I had to… I took you in," said Artur, the gun suddenly falling to the ground. "I took you in for him… I was never meant to fall for you."

"For who?" asked Maria quietly to which Artur only shook his head.

"I lied to them, Maria. I lied to them. If they find out that I have betrayed them so many times… They won't just kill me…" said Artur as a tear fell down the scar on his face. "I did it all… to keep you safe."

 _Safe._ The word echoed through her mind, making her doubt and sympathy for the man standing before her turn into anger.

"Safe? You _ruined_ me!" exclaimed Maria. "You never took care of me!"

"No-"

"You made me a killer! A murderer! My name is known in every single police office around the entire world, thanks to _you_!" screamed Maria.

"Not your real name," muttered Artur, as if he thought that would make everything alright.

"No, you're right. Not my real name," she said sarcastically; "But that won't matter after today because we just put every single piece of information that SHIELD had out there on the internet for the world to see, and you know what? My name was there with a file about _every single person_ I murdered," said Maria, the anger turning into fear as those words came out of her mouth. She hadn't thought about that yet. "So yes, you ruined me."

 _"Dalton, get the hell out of there. Rogers just finished. You have mere seconds to get out."_

"Is Steve out?" asked Maria, pressing a finger to her earpiece as she looked out through the window, Artur following her gaze and seeing the two other helicarriers turn towards the one they were on, weapons pointing at each other.

 _"I don't know… He's not responding anymore. Dalton… Sam's wings are clipped."_

Maria looked at Artur again, seeing him simply stare out through the windows.

"Roger that," said Maria simply before taking out her earpiece.

She was confused and she was scared. Steve wasn't answering and Sam couldn't save her anymore. For Natasha to come with the helicopter would be illogical as that would take her and Fury too close to the Helicarriers. She was trapped. And she was going to die. For some odd reason, all she could think about was the good times she had had with Artur. No, she didn't love him anymore. But to say that she was over him, was something she could not.

"You know," said Maria as she walked towards Artur to stand next to him. "I loved you."

Artur closed his eyes and turned his face away from her.

"And I never stopped loving you which is foolish… I know that," she continued.

"Get out of here," said Artur quietly. "Or you'll die."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" spit Maria.

"That was not what I wanted. You were right, I did try to stall your death. I didn't want to kill you and I still don't want to. But if I don't… they'll kill me. It's me or you," said Artur quietly, the both of them looking at each other as the ships moved closer and closer to one another. "I can't survive this, Maria. Because they'll force me to continue hunting you down and I can't… I just can't."

"Then leave them. Leave Hydra. After this failure, they must lose a lot of followers," said Maria, earning a scoff from Artur.

"Hydra doesn't work like that. If you don't want to work for them anymore, you get a bullet between your eyes," he said before placing a hand on her arm. "Besides… I was never really loyal to them. He'll be very displeased with me if I let anything happen to you."

"Who are you talking about? You've talked about this… guy so many times now already. Just… tell me who he is?" she pressed, knowing full and well that they were out of time to actually still be talking and not running.

Once again, he shook his head. "Dalton… Now leave."

Maria furrowed her brow. Confused about what he had just said. Did he gave her the name or not? "Not without you."

"Get out of here!" exclaimed Artur, pushing her towards the exit.

She turned towards him again though suddenly, the ships started to fire at each other and an explosion took place behind Artur, causing him to jump slightly, pressing his hands against his ears. He looked at her and shouted something incoherent due to the sounds of the helicarriers slowly shooting each other down. Quickly, she turned towards the exit again though when she reached it, she only saw the lake underneath of her. In the distance, she saw the helicopter that Natasha, Sam and Fury were placed in and she thought, though it could've just been her imagination and hope playing a prank on her, that she saw Steve sitting there as well. The mere thought of knowing that Steve was safe, even though she didn't know if it was the truth or not as the helicopter was too far away, made her make the hard decision that she was going to have to take within the next three seconds.

The world suddenly started moving as if everything was in slow motion and as she turned around to look at Artur, she found him cowering on the floor, shielding his face from the debris as the missiles destroyed more and more of the ship. So far, none of them had touched the data core, though Maria knew that a hit to that core would make the entire ship explode. She stretched her hand out to Artur as she ran to him and only just managed to touch his arm before one of the missiles went straight for the core. She saw it happening, in the corner of her eye, though didn't react to it as she simply embraced Artur, feeling one of his hands curl around hers, before something hot was sprayed over her and everything around her turned into darkness.

* * *

 **I know, Artur is confusing. But in future stories, things will get clearer. Maybe you can try and guess at what the hell is going on with him? I would be very interested in hearing what you all think! :)** **Hope I didn't disappoint anyone with this chapter. I had always planned on doing the big 'fight' in only one chapter but... now that I think about it. Maybe it would have been better if I stretched it out a little. It's just, this story is getting a little long and I have ideas for the next movie that I am very excited about letting you all read!**

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	26. Chapter 26, Don't Be

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 26~  
Don't Be**

 _She hadn't been prepared for it. In fact, she had been prepared only for one thing; victory. It hadn't even crossed her mind that she might actually fail._

 _Fail… Did she even have a plan when she confronted him? What was it she wanted to gain? An apology? An apology wasn't going to make up for her pain, it wasn't going to make her feel any better and it wasn't going to give back all those years she had wasted on him. And it most certainly wasn't going to bring back her grand-mother._

 _Again, her grand-mother hadn't been something she had thought about. Where was Maria going to get money to keep her alive now?_

 _A cough escaped her mouth, a thick fluid filling her throat and causing her breathing to become more labored. She was vaguely aware of the fact that her leg was bent in a strange angle, though her struggle to breathe made her focus entirely on that and nothing else. Her mind was still judging her, making her feel regret about what she had put herself in. Her eyes fluttered up towards the roof she had fallen from and she wondered how she was alive, not understanding it. It was at least five stores up and it was impossible to survive something like that._

 _Her hand moved over her stomach, her mind clearing slightly and telling her to assess what her injuries were. Everything seemed fine, until her fingertips brushed against something metallic sticking out of her lower abdomen. As her mind realized what had happened, the pain registered and she cried out, tears springing to her eyes. She was lying in an alley, junk spread all around her; old chairs, tables and other furniture no one wanted anymore. She knew that it was a place popular amongst the homeless, though she saw no one else around her. She was all alone, lying on the cold ground of an empty alley in Hell's Kitchen, only the faint moonlight shining down on her; the few streetlamps that existed not working anymore._

 _"Maria!?"_

 _The voice made her tense, which in turn made her entire body ache and sting; causing another cry of pain to leave her lips, something warm and wet rolling down her chin._

 _"Oh my God…"_

 _Artur's face appeared in front of her. He was leaning over her, looking down at her with a fearful look on his face. He placed a hand on her cheek, tears seeming to spring up into his eyes which confused her. Had it not been him who had pushed her over the edge? Was this not his work? Was he not proud as he usually was?_

 _She smirked at the sight of his cheek bleeding heavily from the scratch she had given him. From the looks of it, it would scar and cause his pretty little face to look ugly. At least, that was what she hoped._

 _"Don't worry… I've got you."_

* * *

Her eyes fluttered open, the light of the lamps above her shining right in her eyes and causing her to be temporarily blind. Her ears registered a strange beeping sound and it took her only a few seconds to realize that it was the beeping from a heart monitor. For a minute, she thought she had fallen asleep beside her grandmother, though she soon realized that the past year had not been a dream. She was an Avenger. And her grandmother was dead.

When her eyes finally had gotten used to the light, she looked around the room. It was empty, though there were signs that people had been there. On the small table next to her bed, she saw a vase filled with her favorite flowers; red roses, along with a small card resting against the vase. Next to the card, a small teddy bear stood, holding a heart in his paws with a small, white text printed on it:

 _Get well soon!  
Clint_

With a grunt, she sat up, placing a hand against her ribs as they stung, seeming to poke her lungs and causing her to cough. When she had calmed down, she managed to wiggle her legs away from the sheets before shifting so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. With shaking hands, she grabbed the card and read it:

 _Although we know you're going to be okay, we wanted to send you something so you don't feel completely forgotten._

\- _Tony and Bruce_

She smiled, placing the card back against the vase before letting her fingertips brush over the petals of one of the roses. The soft feeling of them made her smile even more before her mind started to think about the past events. The last thing she remembered was her and Artur cowering on the floor of the helicarrier as it exploded. After that; nothing.

"Clint just left."

Maria gasped, looking over at the doorway where the voice had come from. There, Natasha was standing, smiling at her.

"He was pretty worried."

"What happened?" asked Maria.

"I told him not to buy you a teddy. You're a tough girl," she continued, not answering Maria's question as she walked over to her, sitting down next to her on the bed. "We now have proof of that too."

When Natasha looked over at Maria, seeing her questioning look, she sighed and nodded her head.

"We found you in the water amongst the wrecks of the helicarriers. You were torn up pretty badly," she said. "Broken ribs… skull fracture…"

Maria looked down at her hands, feeling slightly uncomfortable for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that she could survive such heavy injuries which was something she wasn't used to. Though it felt as though it was something else; a question that was itching to be asked.

"Did we do it?" asked Maria, the uncomfortable feeling still not gone. "Is Hydra gone?"

"I don't know if their completely gone… But we know that they can't use SHIELD as a mask anymore. SHIELD's gone," said Natasha. "Everything's out there now."

"Everything…" sighed Maria.

The people now knew who she was. They had seen her before, fighting against Loki's army on the Avengers side and the papers had even managed to realize that she was the one fighting crime during the night in Hell's Kitchen. But now they actually knew who she was; what she had done.

However, as Maria looked over at Natasha again, she saw the same expression on her face as Maria knew she must have on her own face. Then it hit her, it wasn't just Maria who would be hit by this. Natasha had done some bad things in her past as well; before she became an agent for SHIELD.

"We'll get through it," said Maria, making Natasha look over at her. "Just gotta… walk like we own the place while everyone gets used to it."

Natasha smiled, nodding her head.

"Steve's alright… right?" asked Maria, still trying to find which question it was that was making her feel uncomfortable.

"Yes. But I don't think he has woken up yet. We found him at the side of the lake. Someone had pulled him out," she replied.

Quickly, Maria removed the wires that were attached to her chest and wrist, causing the heart monitor to freak out. Natasha rolled her eyes, standing up and turning the machine off before watching Maria as she slowly stood up, forcing her legs to work even though they felt weak.

"I'm still healing…" said Maria with a sigh before reaching out her hands towards Natasha; almost as though she was a little child wanting to be picked-up by its parents.

Natasha grabbed her hands before intertwining her right arm with Maria's left, steadying her before starting to walk towards the doorway. Steve's room was right next to Maria's which Maria felt relieved about. Moving that much was rather tiring and she - even though they'd only been walking for a minute - craved to sit down on a nice comfy chair already.

Sam was sitting next to Steve, smiling at the super soldier who seemed to just have woken up. A nice, calming tune was being played from an IPod and on the small table next to Steve's bed, there was a vase with flowers and a small card as well. Sam stood up, helping Maria to sit down on the chair where he had been sitting earlier. Although she had protested, saying that he didn't have to move or help her, she felt relieved about being able to sit and not having to use all of her muscles because of the help she was getting. Everything still hurt.

Steve looked at her with a soft smile playing on his lips, not even a trace of worry in his eyes even though she groaned out of pain nearly the entire time that she had been placed in the chair.

"I'm not exactly dressed but… I wanted to make sure you're alright," said Maria, looking down at the hospital gown she was wearing.

Her feet were cold after the short walk to Steve's room and as she saw Natasha and Sam exit the room, she contemplated asking them to bring her some socks to wear.

"It's fine," he said with a croaky voice, the soft smile still on his lips. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," said Maria, brushing his question off before leaning forwards, groaning as she did and earning a pointed look from Steve. "I will be… And you?"

"I've felt better," he replied. "But we did it."

Maria smiled, nodding her head and grabbing his hand. "Yeah… we did. Was he there?"

"Yes…" said Steve, his soft smile faltering slightly. "But I think he recognized me at the end… Because he stopped. He hesitated."

She squeezed his hand slightly; "That's good. That's progress. But he's not here…"

"No… He's not. But I will find him. He's been there for me for as long as I can remember. Now, it's time for me to help him," said Steve, earning a nod from Maria.

"And I'll be there next to you the whole way."

Steve's smile disappeared as she said this and it caused worry to appear in the pit of her stomach. Did he not want her to join him in his search for his best friend?

"How did it go for you?" asked Steve, his serious look back again.

"Artur was there," she replied, looking down at their intertwined hands. "He didn't want to kill me…"

The uncomfortable feeling pressed itself up to the surface of her feelings again and she slowly lifted her gaze to look at Steve again. "I suppose you don't know… But… do you think he made it?"

Steve seemed taken aback by her question and he stared into her eyes for a while, his gaze seeming to soften as he saw the real worry she held inside of her for Artur. He knew that she still cared for Artur slightly and although it annoyed him, he was not going to make a fuss about it.

"Maria… we're the only ones here," said Steve.

The uncomfortable feeling inside of her vanished and turned into a feeling of pure horror. Yes, she had been ready to hear it. But she didn't quite want it to be real. There were no feelings there for him anymore, those Steve had all taken, but there was still a place in her heart for Artur. Granted it was a tiny place but it was large enough for her to feel how it broke into tiny pieces as the realization hit her.

She tried to pry her hand away from Steve, wanting to walk away and not show Steve the tears that were threatening to spill over Artur. After all, Artur was her ex-boyfriend and she didn't quite know how Steve felt about her reacting like that over him. Especially since he was, essentially, the enemy. However, Steve held onto her hand and as she looked up into his eyes, she saw what he meant with the strong grip he had on her.

 _Don't push me away._

Her arm relaxed and as the tears appeared in her eyes, she leaned forwards and rested her head against Steve's strong arm, ignoring the pain in her ribs and neck as she did this. As a tear fell down her cheek, Steve's other hand rested on top of her hair, letting his fingers comb through it in a soothing way.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," replied Steve, a finger appearing underneath of her chin, gently lifting her face up to look at him. "Don't be."

* * *

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	27. Chapter 27, Goodbye

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 27~  
Goodbye**

Slowly, Steve and Maria opened the door to their apartment and after having removed the yellow police tape from the doorway, they entered hand in hand. Without saying a single word, they both let their eyes scan the wreckage left after the incident with Fury nearly two weeks ago and, letting go of each other's hands, they started to pack together those things they wanted to keep.

Maria went into the bedroom almost immediately, while Steve stayed by the bookshelves, grabbing a few of his belongings there. She opened the closet, grabbing her suit and remaining daggers before placing them into a bag along with her boots. She still didn't have a lot of possessions and so, she closed the bag after that. However, there was still one thing left in the closet that belonged to her.

Her sword.

Her eyes glanced at the sword, a strange pang of pain hitting her in the chest when she looked at it. Slowly, she turned away from the sword and grabbed her bag.

"You're not bringing it?" asked Steve, startling Maria.

He stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe and watching her with curious eyes. As she shook her head, Steve furrowed his brow and walked up to her.

"Why?"

"It was a gift from Artur," she said, causing Steve to tense up slightly. "I want to forget him."

Steve nodded, relaxing again which Maria noticed. The pain in her chest disappeared at the thought of her having made the correct decision with that. Of course, it hurt her to do this. It hurt her to have to simply let him go even though he still held a place in her heart. But knowing that Steve was more than okay with that, made it seem easier. Artur had hurt her more than anyone else. And now that he was gone – dead – she needed to let him go completely in order for her to continue with her life. She knew this and she was going to do it too.

"Good," he said, placing a hand on her cheek, a soft smile appearing on her lips from the contact of his hand. "You've got everything?"

"Yeah," replied Maria, nodding her head.

"Let's go. Fury's waiting for us at his funeral."

"That sounds so weird," chuckled Maria as she followed Steve into the living room.

Suddenly, Steve stopped, causing Maria to lift her eyebrows at him before she rounded him and looked him in the eyes. She couldn't quite read the expression on his face, though he quickly explained why he'd stopped as he said; "I'm gonna miss this place."

"It was a nice apartment," she agreed, looking back at the wall with the large hole in it from where Bucky had shot Fury.

"Not just that… But I'm gonna miss having a place to stay at," he said. "A home."

"We're gonna find something new," assured Maria, placing a hand on his arm. "Something better. Maybe we can search for a place in Brooklyn where you grew up."

"It's gonna look a lot more different than it did back then," said Steve with a chuckle before he locked eyes with her. "But I'd like that."

She smiled at that, squeezing his arms slightly where she was holding him and softly, she leaned forwards onto her tip-toes before she stretched up towards his face, placing a soft kiss to his cheek. Her gaze accidentally fell onto the bookshelves that were placed behind them. There, something caught her eye and, sarcastically, Maria gasped as she saw that Steve hadn't packed one of her favorite books. She swatted his arm playfully before walking over to the bookshelf, grabbing the book quickly and turning to look at him.

"You cannot leave this here," she said, showing him the book. "You can't just leave one of Tolkien's best work-"

"Maria." The expression on Steve's face was far from amused and Maria quickly shook her head.

"Of course, that's just my opinion-"

Steve pushed past her and grabbed something from the bookshelf right where she had grabbed The Hobbit. Much to Maria's surprise and uncomfort, it was a small camera. Most likely, it had been hidden behind the books.

"The intruder… Remember? When I said I'd heard someone walk around?" said Maria, grabbing the camera from him and taking a better look at it. "They must've planted these here… And I walked around in just a towel!"

"That's why Fury didn't trust anything…" said Steve quietly.

"That's why he wrote everything down on his phone," added Maria, understanding what Steve meant.

She simply watched as Steve took the small camera from her again before crushing it with his bare hand, a stern look on his face that Maria couldn't quite explain.

* * *

"So, you've experienced this sort of thing before," said Fury as he approached the three heroes; Steve, Sam and Maria.

"You get used to it," said Steve, the three of them looking down at the grave stone with Fury's name on it, placed over an empty, buried coffin.

Maria grabbed Steve's hand as he said that, leaning into him slightly.

"We've been data mining Hydra's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship," said Fury, looking over at the three heroes.

He was standing before them, still watching his own tombstone, with sunglasses on and a hoodie over his head. Since Fury was supposed to be dead, he couldn't really be seen wandering about the streets.

"I'm headed to Europe tonight," said Fury. "Wanted to ask if you'd come."

He was looking at Steve and Maria's heartbeat raised. She didn't want Steve to leave. Not now that every piece of information about her was out there and she knew she'd get some kind of negative response from society. She needed him more than ever now.

"There's something I gotta do first," said Steve, relief flooding through Maria.

"How about you, Wilson? Could use a man with your ability," said Fury, turning his gaze to Sam.

"I'm more of a soldier than a spy," responded Sam, though not after having looked at Steve and Maria first, which confused Maria slightly.

"And you, Dalton?" asked Fury, turning his gaze over at Maria.

"I think… I'll stay," said Maria, squeezing Steve's hand.

"Anywhere he goes, aye?" said Fury, causing a blush to appear on Maria's cheeks before she nodded. "I've got something for you. Martin asked me to give it to you before we parted."

Fury quickly unzipped his jacket before retrieving a brown folder that had been resting there. He handed it over to her and she took it from him, offering him a smile as a thanks. The folder read: "Hydrus Acidulus" and she immediately knew what it was about.

"And, if I were you, I'd take a look at some of those files we've obtained from Hydra. Some of them might hold some answers," said Fury, earning a frown from Maria.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, though she only got a pointed look from him, telling her to find it out on her own.

"Alright then," he said instead, shaking Sam's hand before going over to shake Steve's. "If anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here."

As Fury shook Maria's hand, she nodded her head, agreeing on what he was telling them. Of course, after everything that had happened, he wanted to stay under the radar for a while. Or maybe even the rest of his life. Especially if he was serious about wanting to find those Hydra agents that managed to slip away.

"You should be honored," said Natasha's voice from behind the three of them, making them turn around to see her walking up to them while Fury himself already was walking away from them. "That's about as close as he gets to saying 'thank you'."

"Not going with him?" asked Steve, he and Maria walking towards her to meet her halfway, while Sam stayed behind to give them some time.

"No," she replied, keeping her hands behind her back.

"Not staying here," concluded Steve by the way she looked at them.

"Nah…" she replied. "I blew all my covers, I gotta go figure out a new one."

"That could take some time," replied Maria.

"I'm counting on it," she replied simply before looking over at Steve. "That thing you asked for; called in a few favors from Kiev."

As she removed her hands from behind her back, she revealed a brown folder; reminding Maria of the one she was holding in her hands at the moment. Steve took it from here gently, looking at it as though it was going to haunt him the rest of his life. As Maria looked down on it, she still didn't understand what it was as the name of the folder was in a foreign language she didn't speak. Though Maria doubted Steve understood what her file was about either since she hadn't told him much about what she knew about the purple bullets yet.

With a glance over at Maria, Natasha lifted herself up onto her tip-toes before she kissed his cheek ever so softly. Maria only rolled her eyes, lifting an eyebrow at Natasha as she looked over at Maria with a smirk.

"Don't think you're getting away easily," she said simply before doing the exact same thing with Maria, her lips pressing a soft kiss to Maria's cheek.

"You know, I'm going to miss you," said Maria, earning a smirk from Natasha.

"We'll see each other again," said Natasha. "When the next mission starts."

And with that, the assassin turned around and walked away, swaying her hips a little extra to which Maria only smiled as she shook her head.

Sam walked over to them, standing next to Maria with his hands tucked down into his pockets.

"You know," said Maria, turning her head to look up at Steve. "It's unhealthy in a relationship to have secrets."

Steve chuckled, looking at her with an amused smile on his face. "You show me yours and I'll show you mine."

The two of them exchanged folders and as Maria opened Steve's her heart warmed slightly at the same time as it fell. The folder was all about Bucky and what had happened to him after the world war. It was sweet of him to want to go after Bucky, but at the same time, Maria couldn't deny the fact that she simply wanted some alone time with Steve in which they just stayed in one place for a while and bonded.

"You're gonna try and find him," concluded Sam as he looked over Maria's shoulder, earning a nod from Steve as he scanned the file he was looking through with eager eyes. "Mind if I tag along?"

Steve looked up and smirked, shaking his head; "Not at all."

Maria closed the folder, handing it back to Steve as he finished reading hers.

"You're not gonna like this," said Steve, looking directly into Maria's eyes. "But I think you should stay."

"What? No, I'm coming with you," said Maria, shaking her head. "I'm not leaving your side."

"You won't be," said Steve, offering her a smile which she didn't mirror. "We're still a team. Just… Not working together at the moment. If I need your help, I'll tell you."

"But you won't."

"Maria-"

"No, I want to know the actual reason behind this," she said, getting a little upset which she tried to hold inside of her.

Steve nodded his head, exchanging a look with Sam. "I got this earlier and I think it's best if you stay so that you can figure this all out." He gestured towards the folder in her hands before he grabbed his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and showing it to her.

It was a text message which he had gotten and she read it two times before nodding her head, looking up at Steve.

"Maybe… But you have to promise me that you'll truly call and that you're not going to be away for too long," said Maria, pointing a finger at him.

He raised his hands, nodding and smiling down at her. "I promise."

"You find him," said Maria, looking at both Sam and Steve now. "You find him, and bring him home."

Maria gave Sam a hug which he gladly accepted, holding her close to him.

"Take care of him," she whispered into his ear before letting go of him. With a single nod of his head, he turned around and started to walk away, letting the two of them say goodbye in private.

"Be careful," she said, placing her arms around his neck and leaning in close to him as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I always am," he replied before placing a kiss against her lips. "Keep me posted."

"Yes, captain," she replied before placing another kiss to his lips.

The last kiss lasted longer than the first one. It was a longing one that neither of them really wanted to end. Maria still didn't quite understand why she wasn't allowed to join him with his search. After all, Sam was allowed to join. Though she didn't question it. She knew he loved her and she respected his decision. After all, he had been right when he had said that there were a couple of things she needed to check up on her own.

Tears filled her eyes as their lips parted and she bit her bottom lip, looking down at Steve's chest as she fought against the tears. Softly, Steve placed a thumb underneath of her chin, lifting her face up so she was looking up at him again.

"It's okay," he said, offering her a soft smile. "We'll see each other again soon."

All she could do, was nod and smile back at him. A part of her knew it was true. After all, if there was no actual lead, which Maria had seen that there wasn't, he couldn't stay out there hunting and searching for his friend constantly. Then again, Steve was a very persistent man.

He turned away from her, walking over to Sam who also turned, before the two of them walked away. Maria hugged the folder close to her heart, staying in the shadow of a large oak tree which stood a few inches away from Fury's gravestone, casting a large shadow over her and most of the graves near her – until Steve and Sam were out of her sight. A sigh escaped her lips as she realized she was now standing alone. At least for now.

She turned around, starting to walk the opposite way Steve and Sam had walked. It was not towards the exit, but towards the part of the graveyard that was older. As she walked, all she really could think about was the text message Steve had showed to her:

 _Can't reach Maria. Tell her to call me ASAP. Very important.  
It's about her powers._

\- _Stark_

* * *

Plucking a small flower from a bouquet of roses placed beside a gravestone dedicated to a; "Wonderful wife, mother and grandmother," – Maria stopped by the outskirts of the graveyard. Her eyes scanned the small row of tiny gravestones, all dedicated to different people she was related to though that she never got to meet. All of them were called _Miller_ , Maria's mother's maiden name. The grave she stood before hadn't been checked on for quite some time. In fact, Maria had been surprised it was still there. After all, she never got a bill to pay for any gravestone. Though, Maria figured that since her mother's parents and siblings were all laying there in the ground, someone else, a distant relative she never knew about, was paying for the graves.

She kneeled down, the dirty, green grass staining her jeans almost immediately to which she didn't care. She placed the folder down on the ground before gently placing the stolen rose on the dirt before the stone. Before retrieving her hand, she let her fingers brush against her mother's name, her fingers nearly shaking at being so close to her again.

It was frightening, in many ways, to be there again. Not only because she had barely even attended the funeral, only appearing at the ceremony but not staying to watch her mother's corpse getting buried in the dirt forever, but also because it made old memories come back to her. Old memories of pain, fear and unhappiness.

"Sorry about the flower…" said Maria, retrieving her hand at last. "It just felt weird to come empty-handed…"

Maria's mother hated roses. Exactly why, Maria never really understood nor had she dared to ask.

"I just wanted to…" She inhaled loudly, looking up at the bare sky above her, narrowing her eyes slightly as the sun shone down into her eyes. "I don't know why I came. I mean, I never liked you. I think I have a vague memory from when I was a baby where you were actually kind to me… but that might just be my mind trying to make me feel less angry."

She lowered her gaze towards the gravestone again, tears now threatening to spill over.

"I never said goodbye," continued Maria. "But I just want you to know, that I don't mind. I don't mind that you're in there, dead and rotting. I don't mind that you freaked out over dad leaving. Because look where it got me! I've got friends! People who love me…" Tears were now falling down her cheeks rapidly. "That's more than you ever had… That's more than you ever thought I could achieve… I hope you're down _there_. Burning and rotting for what you did to me."

Furiously, Maria wiped away the tears from her cheeks, forcing herself to stop crying and man up. Her mother wasn't worth the tears. Taking in a deep breath, she calmed her beating heart down before grabbing the folder again, standing up. With one last look at her mother's grave, she turned away, determined to stay strong for as long as she could. Whether it was with Steve by her side or not, she was going to be a strong woman. Yes, the society was going to cast her out. Yes, she was going to be labelled a murderer. But she was not going to make them see how much it hurt. Because if she did, they'd win and it would never end. She was going to stay and she was going to prove to them, that everybody could be a hero.

"Goodbye."

* * *

 **Well... the end of this story is near! I just wanted to quickly thank those of you who have taken the time to comment and please, don't stop. It means a lot to me and I'm sorry I can't reply but that's because you're guests :(**

 **Also wanted to say that, I'm at my grandparents' house for the upcoming week to sort of celebrate my 18:th birthday. I don't get to see them more than once a year so this is really something special for me. But I did get to bring my laptop so that's why I'm updating :) The reason I said this was that it might be the reason for why this chapter sucked a little bit :P Sorry :P**

 **Motivation for me = reviews! :P**


	28. Chapter 28, Epilogue

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 28~  
Epilogue  
**

With her arms crossed and her foot tapping a rhythm on the shiny, marble floor, Maria waited outside of the lab of the new Avengers Tower. She had been picked up from the graveyard by a large man people seemed to call Happy. An hour later, she had arrived at the tower Stark had been working on the lately. It was beautiful inside and although it wasn't quite her style - the interior being far too modern - it was a current home she could live with. Already, Stark had given her a room and new clothing and although she was slightly surprised by the fact that Tony knew her size, she was grateful for the fact that she wouldn't have to get money and buy new things herself. Mostly because no one was going to give her a job now that her background was out there. If you couldn't find a job when you had been to prison, you definitely couldn't find a job when you had been a killer. But also because shopping wasn't her favorite thing to do.

Footsteps caused her to turn around and a soft smile appeared on her lips, happiness filling her from seeing her friends again. Bruce and Tony walked up to here, greeting her and opening the doors to the lab. Everything still looked new and the fact that Tony needed to open the door with a key-card told Maria that the tower wasn't quite ready yet.

"No Jarvis?" asked Maria, causing Tony to look back at her while he walked over to a specific machine, multiple screens attached to it.

"Not yet. Still have some minor details to fix," said Tony, waving his hands about as he spoke.

Bruce gestured for Maria to follow him as he walked over to Tony. "We have a key-card for you that you can use in the meanwhile. Later on, Jarvis is going to run the entire building."

"Cool," replied Maria simply, jumping up on the cot close to the machine, letting her legs dangle over the edge as she watched Bruce and Tony work, numbers and equations appearing on the screens which Maria didn't understand.

"Alright," started Tony, turning to Maria as a picture of what Maria thought looked like a DNA-string, appeared on the screen. However, it looked wrong and twisted in ways she knew DNA wasn't supposed to be twisted. "I suppose you know why you're here."

"Yeah, 'cause of my powers," replied Maria, nodding.

"We found something interesting," replied Bruce. "In your DNA."

"At first, we thought it was in your skin where we would find answer since it was what we had seen heal," said Tony. "However, it wasn't your skin. It was your DNA. This here is a picture of your DNA after we'd messed with it. This _here_ , is a picture of that same DNA string a couple hours later."

Maria's gaze jumped over to the screen as another picture appeared on it. Again, it was a DNA-string as Tony said. Though this time, it looked as Maria knew DNA-strings were supposed to look. Curled in a spiral and whole.

"What does it mean?" asked Maria.

"That your powers come from your DNA. When you get hurt, your DNA makes sure that the cells reproduce, as they do on a normal person as well. However, your DNA makes sure that it is done ten times as fast as normal," explained Bruce. "Not only that… But we found something else in your blood."

"What?" asked Maria quietly.

Although she didn't feel all too surprised about the whereabouts of her power since it made sense that that was what was happening. The thing that was causing a slight tinge of worry to appear in the bottom of her stomach was the fact that her abilities had come out of the blue. She wasn't born with it. In fact, she still remembered when she had accidentally tripped and scraped her knee back when she still lived with her grandmother. It had taken her knee a month to heal. Not only that, but what did her abilities make her? A hero? Or something else?

"Mutant genes."

"That's not possible…" said Maria, shaking her head. "Why would-"

"Remember the file you gave us an hour ago… about the bullets," said Bruce; "and how they affected you?."

"Yeah?"

"The toxin reacts to mutant genes. To other people the bullets would be simple bullets. But since your mutant genes are what activates the speed of your DNA, they affect your healing abilities," said Bruce. "It proves it. You're a mutant, Maria."

"But I didn't have those until I met you guys," replied Maria, shaking her head. "How is that possible? I thought you're younger when you got your powers-"

"Did you go through something very traumatizing before you met us? Or did you, somehow, go through a lot of stress?" asked Tony. "Because that's a way to activate hidden mutant genes to create a mutation."

"No-" started Maria until she remembered _that_ night. "Well… the last time I got hurt badly without healing was when I fell…"

"Fell?" asked Tony.

"I fell down a tall building in Hell's Kitchen – no, I was pushed… And I fell on a metal rod that pierced through my abdomen. I still have the scar," explained Maria.

"That could've caused enough stress for the mutation to start," said Bruce, nodding his head. "But you didn't heal fast then?"

"No," she replied. "I remember leaving the hospital early so that I could go and visit my granny. It was during the time that she was in the hospital and I needed to get money for her… medication."

"I suppose you were stressed about that?" asked Bruce. "A lot of pressure on you after such a traumatizing event. Finding a job with such an injury couldn't have been easy?"

"No… Wait, you think that is what started my mutation?" asked Maria.

"It's the only explanation," replied Tony as he walked over to her. "It's kind of cool though."

"Cooler than a metal suit that can make you fly?" asked Maria, a soft smile appearing on her lips. "Yeah, right."

Tony chuckled, looking back at Bruce who smiled too. "I'm glad you're taking it so lightly."

"Look, I've been dealing with these 'powers' for over a year. I was pretty sure I wasn't 'normal'," replied Maria, creating bunny ears with her fingers in order to empathize what she was saying. "Not to mention that I have pretty awesome friends who can help me get through this."

After saying that, she jokingly fist-bumped Tony in the chest, lightly and not in any way to cause pain. However, she was surprised when she didn't hit Tony's arc reactor which was supposed to be placed right where she hit him. Instead, she was met with the feeling of his chest underneath of his shirt.

"What?" asked Maria, placing a hand against his chest to which Tony started to chuckle.

"I got rid of it," he replied nonchalantly, shrugging. "Thought it was time."

"I feel like I've missed a lot," said Maria, earning a sudden sad look from Tony which confused her. Though he quickly turned over to his sarcastic self again, hitting Maria on the shoulder playfully.

"We'll tell you all about it during lunch," replied Tony, earning a sigh from Bruce.

"Why do I get the feeling you've heard it thrice already?" joked Maria as she jumped down from the cot, looking over at Bruce who chuckled.

"Thrice is an underdrift," replied Bruce.

"Typical Stark," scoffed Maria playfully.

"Standing right here," said Tony, waving his hands in front of Maria and Bruce's faces.

The three of them chuckled before leaving the lab and although the mood was light, Maria couldn't help but want to know more about these "powers" of her. Obviously, she knew she had them. But she wanted to know why and from where she'd gotten them. Of course she knew that mutant genes were something that usually just appeared and on some people, they were stronger than others. But with her, it felt different. They had appeared because she had gone through enough stress to activate her genes, not because they had matured as she heard happened to a lot of teenagers nowadays.

As the lights were turned out behind her, Bruce closing the door of the lab as she had exited, she knew that although their current mission was over – something she still needed to inform Tony and Bruce about – there were still things she needed to do in her future. Because she was an Avenger, she knew she had to deal with dangerous things. Though she didn't know what dangers were still waiting for her; both in the near future and the far-off future. Then again, who did know.

* * *

 ****PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT STUFF AT THE END*****

 **Not my best chapter... probably the worst ever :P But, I couldn't write more without the story going on and on and on - and I feel like I need to have an opening on the next "book". So, next week, I'll probably have been able to rewatch AOU so that I can write down the important parts of the plot and twist it so that Maria fits in along with the ideas I have for this. I'll update this story so that there's a link to book three's first chapter :)**

 **Okay, now you guys have a week to let me know what you want to see in the next story. Comment something you want like, Maria and Steve going to the park! or something like that. And I'll take it in consideration and add it in any way I can in the next book :) Not because I don't have an entire plot for the next book already planned (cause I have), but because I know I like it when the author gives the readers a way of making a difference and being heard. Don't have to, of course :)**


	29. Book III

**Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

* * *

The next book is now out! It's only a prolog and nothing more since I need to work a little more on the plot before I continue to update. But, it's up now! :D I can't put a link in the document here, but just go to my profile and you should be able to find it.

I just want to thank everyone that's read this and supported it :) I really do appreciate it a lot and I do hope that you all continue to read about Maria and Steve and continue to support me even on the next book

I'll see you there ;)


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